Michael Young has been named the new dean of the Cooper Union Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture.
The announcement by Cooper Union president Steven McLaughlin comes after a nationwide selection process steered by architecture professors Diana Agrest and Nora Akawi.
Acting dean Ben Aranda; and faculty Nader Tehrani, Theodore Baab, and Asialy Bracey Gardella were also on the search committee.
“Michael is uniquely positioned to build on the Cooper Union’s legacy in design experimentation and our contribution to architecture pedagogy, while also evolving the school as a center for public discourse in architecture to address the urgent issues of our time here in New York City and around the world,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
Young will assume the position from Aranda, who took the reins from Hayley Eber as interim dean last summer. He was ultimately selected over Michael Meredith and Ana Miljacki, the two other final contenders.
“Michael Young represents the best of us,” Aranda said in a statement.
“He is a dedicated teacher, inspiring architect, and distinguished academic, whose new role as dean formalizes the long-standing leadership he commands here among both students and faculty,” Aranda continued. “I have the highest ambitions for our future together and can think of no one better to steward this precious institution forward.”
Young is the founder of Young & Ayata. He has been a faculty member at Cooper Union since 2005. He has also held teaching appointments at UC Berkeley and Yale University.
In 2019, Young was awarded the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome. His other accolades include the Progressive Architecture Award, Design Vanguard Award, AIANY Honor Award, and the Architecture Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters.
Young’s deanship will begin April 1, 2026.
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