Frederick “Fritz” Steiner will be the next Dean of the School of Design, effective July 1. Steiner, who will also be the Paley Professor at Penn, presently serves as dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds two master’s degrees and a doctoral degree, in city and regional planning, from PennDesign, and has also been a research scholar at the Penn Institute for Urban Research since 2013.

A Fellow of both the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, Steiner has written, edited, or co-edited 17 books, including two editions of the widely used and frequently translated “The Living Landscape: An Ecological Approach to Landscape Planning” and influential edited volumes with and on Ian McHarg, the celebrated landscape architect and founder of Penn’s Department of Landscape Architecture.

“Fritz Steiner has a long and distinguished track record as a scholar, teacher and administrator,” says Penn President Amy Gutmann. “Because of his deep and abiding connection to PennDesign, his appreciation of the School’s impressive history, and his excitement to contribute to its bright and compelling future, we look forward to working with him as he collaborates with faculty, staff, students, overseers, and alumni to build on PennDesign’s incredibly strong foundation.”