SOM Foundation names Peter MacKeith as its executive director

Peter comes to the SOM Foundation as a nationally recognized design educator, administrator, curator, and author. Most recently, he served as Dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas from 2014 until earlier this year. In this role he helped to expand student outcomes, research funding, and facilities, notably guiding the design and construction of the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation, designed by Pritzker Prize recipients Grafton Architects and Modus Studio. In 2025, MacKeith served as the Lead Commissioner for the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, celebrating contemporary American design under the theme of PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity in collaboration with the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and independent consultancy DesignConnects.

“Peter’s trajectory mirrors that of the SOM Foundation: more than four decades of broadening impact with practitioners across the profession. We look forward to applying his expertise to forge new collaborations that will continue to expand the influence of the SOM Foundation and its mission,” said Scott Duncan, Chairman of the SOM Foundation Board and SOM Partner.

The SOM Foundation was created by SOM under the leadership of Bruce Graham in 1979 to support and cultivate emerging leadership and research in the built environment. An independent nonprofit organization, the foundation aims to advance the design profession's ability to address major societal, environmental, and spatial challenges. It has provided more than $3.5 million in fellowships, grants, and mentorship to students, recent graduates, and faculty across multiple disciplines—including architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture, urban design, and structural engineering.

In each of his academic and administrative roles, MacKeith has focused on expanding the role of architecture and design in developing applied research, to educate larger audiences with deeper impact. Recognized as an ACSA Distinguished Professor, two-time DesignIntelligence Educator of the Year, and Design Futures Council Senior Fellow, MacKeith was granted the Award of Merit from AIA Arkansas in 2021 in recognition of his contributions to the state’s architecture and education culture, and this fall will be given the highest honor bestowed by AIA Arkansas, The E. Fay Jones Gold Medal. A 1990 Fulbright Fellow in architecture to Finland, MacKeith was installed by the President of Finland as a Knight, First Class, of the Order of the Lion of Finland in 2012 for his contributions over thirty years to the architecture culture of Finland.

“I am honored and privileged by this appointment and appreciate the trust and responsibility placed in me by the SOM Foundation board,” said MacKeith. “I believe my background, education, experience and ambitions as a committed and creative educator in the fields of architecture and design education have prepared me to meet the responsibilities of design advocacy, education, and leadership for the SOM Foundation.”

MacKeith has authored or edited 14 books, including Out There! New American Architecture, with co-authors Robert Ivy and Cathleen McGuigan (2026: Merrell Publishers, London), Radical Practice: The Work of Marlon Blackwell Architects (2024: Princeton Architectural Press, New York, with co-author Jonathan Boelkins), and The Finland Pavilions: Finland at the Universal Expositions 1900-1992 (1992: Kustannus Oy City, Helsinki, with co-author Kerstin Smeds). He has served on the editorial and management boards of Places Journal, and as editor of Perspecta, the Yale Architecture Journal (issue 24, “On Materiality,” 1988) and SOM Journal, a professional journal of history, theory and criticism (number 8: Collaboration/Teamwork; Hatje Cantz, 2012; and number 9: Leadership/Authorship; Hatje Cantz, 2014).

MacKeith will continue to build on the successes of previous SOM Foundation Executive Director Iker Gil. In the last decade, the SOM Foundation has developed new fellowships for emerging students and faculty members across the United States, Europe, and China as well as new awards aimed at expanding opportunities for BIPOC students (the Robert L. Wesley Award), and for high school students interested in architecture (the Gordon Bunshaft Award).

Gil invested deeply in the fellows and making their work visible and accessible. He achieved this by organizing public programs to deepen the impact of the fellowships, creating new opportunities for collaboration and knowledge sharing, and uncovering and celebrating the work since 1979 to build a strong foundation for the future. He built a robust digital archive and web presence for the SOM Foundation, as well as creating a physical archive and research center inside SOM’s Chicago office, to make the final reports and research available to global scholars as well as to display small exhibitions related to the work supported by the SOM Foundation throughout the years. He partnered with major institutions to showcase research and foster dialogue between academia and professional practice at the William F. Baker International Research and Design Forum, held at IIT in 2019 and 2026; at the University of Stuttgart in 2022; and at Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid in 2025.

“Iker Gil’s extraordinary period of leadership of the SOM Foundation has positioned it well to advance further in addressing the historical and contemporary challenge of architecture: how to build a better world,” said MacKeith. “The critical moment we live in now – characterized by economic, social and environmental challenges – calls for vigorous leadership in architecture and design, founded on clear vision, sound judgment, dedicated intelligence, deep empathy, and passionate advocacy. I look forward to leading the work of the SOM Foundation forward as a dynamic act of public design and research, in ambitious ideals, in synthetic process, and in collaborative production.”