AAP Alumni Reception: Celebration and Conversation with AIA President Kimberly Dowdell and AAP Dean J. Meejin Yoon

J. Meejin Yoon

Gale and Ira Drukier Dean, Cornell AAP

J. Meejin Yoon is the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP) at Cornell University and cofounding partner of Höweler + Yoon. An architect, designer, and educator, Yoon is committed to advancing creative and critical practices and pedagogies, scholarship, and research to address the many urgent environmental and social challenges we face in our cities and communities.

Kimberly N. Dowdell

2024 President, the American Institute of Architects

Kimberly N. Dowdell, AIA, NOMAC, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, SEED, is a licensed architect and frequent speaker on the topic of architecture, leadership, diversity, sustainability, and the future of cities. In her 2019–20 term as national president of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), she worked to increase opportunities for women and people of color to gain more equitable access to the building professions. She also more than doubled the organization's membership and significantly raised NOMA's profile.

Dowdell's career aspirations are rooted in her upbringing in Detroit, where she was initially driven to utilize architecture as a tool to revitalize cities. She earned her Bachelor of Architecture at Cornell University and her Master of Public Administration at Harvard University. Her professional experience has spanned architecture to government and teaching real estate development. Dowdell is currently the director of strategic relationships and a principal with HOK, a leading global design firm. She cofounded the SEED Network in 2005 and has been a LEED-accredited professional since 2007. In 2022, Dowdell was elected to the Cornell University Board of Trustees.

Dowdell's overarching mission is to improve people's lives, by design.

Lisa Cholmondeley

Gensler Principal and Architect

Lisa Cholmondeley is committed to the idea that design happens at all stages of a project. As a Principal in Gensler's Washington D.C. office, Cholmondeley is passionate about space and design, and is motivated by the challenges of making ideas reality. She has been a key member in the delivery of several large, complex, mixed-use developments in the Middle East. A trained architect, Cholmondeley has spent almost half of her career working on interiors, and strongly advocates for the development of spaces that have a shared story between the exterior and interior experience. Prior to joining the D.C. office, Cholmondeley's career at Gensler included experience in London, Doha, Abu Dhabi, and most recently, San Francisco.

Cholmondeley has taught architectural design at both Howard University and the University of Tennessee. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University, and a Master of Arts degree in History and Theory of Architecture from The Architectural Association. Additionally, Cholmondeley is codirector of Gensler's Center for Research on Equity and the Built Environment and a member of Gensler's Global Race and Diversity Committee.