Christopher Silver Named Dean of the College of Design, Construction & Planning

Janie M. Fouke, Provost

Dr. Chris Silver, head of the department of urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been named Dean of the College of Design, Construction and Planning at the University of Florida effective October 1, 2006. Interim Dean Anthony Dasta will continue to serve as the college’s interim dean until Dr. Silver’s arrival.

Dr. Silver earned his earned a doctoral degree in American urban history and a master’s degree in American history from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; a master’s of urban and regional planning from Virginia Commonwealth University; and a bachelor’s in history from St. Lawrence University. He is past President of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, a former Co-Editor of the Journal of the American Planning Association, and currently editor of the Journal of Planning History.

Dr. Silver has been a professor of urban and regional planning and head of his department in Illinois since 1998. From 1995 to 1997, he was the urban development adviser to Indonesia under a U.S. Agency for International Development project based in Jakarta. Starting with a Fulbright Senior Lectureship in 1989 and 1990, Dr. Silver has researched urban development and decentralization in Indonesia for more than a decade.

Silver previously served Virginia Commonwealth University from 1979 to 1995 in a variety of positions, including professor and as associate dean in the College of Humanities and Sciences and in the School of Community and Public Affairs.

The central focus of his published research has been urban and planning history, both in the US and in an international context. He is completing a book entitled, “Planning the Megacity: Jakarta in the Twentieth Century” (Routledge). He is also completing a history of planning in the urban South in the US from the 1890s through the 1950s. Other recent research involves the global phenomena of urban planning in the context of decentralization, democratization and the emergence of civil society in developing nations.

Dr. Silver is a tremendously exciting candidate for the dean’s position in DCP. He immediately recognized that we have “all the pieces” to influence the built environment. His international experience will be especially valuable to UF as we continue to expand our horizons.

Please join me in welcoming Dean Silver to the University of Florida.