Marilyn Jordan Taylor

On October 1, 2008, Marilyn Jordan Taylor became the Dean of the School of Design. Marilyn Taylor, Partner in Charge of the Urban Design and Planning Practice at Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP and the first woman to serve as Chairman of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, is internationally known for her distinguished and passionate involvement in the design of large-scale urban projects and civic initiatives. Over a 35 year career with Skidmore Owings & Merrill, she has led many of the firm's largest and most complex projects around the world. She was also both the first architect and the first woman to serve as chairman (2005-07) of the Urban Land Institute. She attended the MIT Graduate School of Architecture (1969-70), and received her M. Arch in 1974 from the University of California, Berkeley. She joined Skidmore Owings & Merrill in 1971, in the firm's Washington office, and was elected Partner in 1985. She received a prestigious David Rockefeller Fellowship from the Partnership for New York City in 1995.