Facilities and Campus Operations

Craig Barton is an architect, and educator. As the University Architect, he will work with senior leadership and members of the Corporation to provide strategic direction to the capital planning process, and project planning efforts, with a focus on the overall plan for the campus. He will also oversee the development of the university’s design guidelines, architect selection, and project design review.

He is an emeritus member of the Corporation, where he served as chair of the Committee on Facilities and Campus Planning and will bring professional, academic, and civic experience to Brown’s planning and design processes. Mr. Barton has worked for a number of architectural firms prior to leading his own design practice, and has held faculty appointments and academic leadership roles at the University of Virginia and Arizona State University. Most recently, he served as the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In addition, he has served as chair of the Charlottesville (VA) City Planning Commission, and as a member of the Mayor’s Urban Design Task Force in Phoenix, AZ. He has served on the boards of a number of non-profit organizations focused on design and the built environment and currently serves as a trustee of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, and as a member of the board of the Design Museum of Chicago.

He holds undergraduate degrees from Brown and the School of Visual Arts, and a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. He was a Loeb Fellow at the Graduate School of Design from 1994 to 1995.