Acclaimed architect Marlon Blackwell — a distinguished professor at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville — has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Blackwell, 66, is founder and co-principal of Marlon Blackwell Architects, which is based in Fayetteville. Since 1992, he has taught at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at UA. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Other Arkansans who have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences over the years include Hillary and Bill Clinton for their work with the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation; Morris S. Arnold, senior judge on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, author and historian; and Peter S. Ungar, an anthropologist who teaches at UA and is the director of the university’s Environmental Dynamics Program.
The academy is an organization that honors excellence and leadership and serves as an independent research center. The membership is made up of people across disciplines, professions and perspectives.
Nearly 270 members were elected in 2023 from academia, the arts, industry, policy, research and science. The newest members are grouped in 31 sections, and organized within five classes, in which they were elected.
This year’s group includes music and artistic director Gustavo Dudamel of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; author and journalist Michael Lewis; songwriter, actor, director and producer Lin-Manuel Miranda; and author Zadie Smith.
Blackwell received the 2020 Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects and was named the 2020 Southeastern Conference Professor of the Year. He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2021, received an Arts and Letters Award in Architecture from the Academy in 2012, was selected as a U.S. Artists Ford Fellow in 2014, and was inducted into the National Academy of Design in 2018.
Projects from Blackwell’s design practice have been recognized with national and international awards, including 18 national awards from the American Institute of Architects. The St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Spring-dale received the 2011 World Architecture Festival, Best Civic and Community Building, and the 2012 American Institute of Architects National Small Project Award.