Architecture professor Kent Spreckelmeyer named a 2023 Icon of Education by Ingram’s Magazine

LAWRENCE — Kent Spreckelmeyer, professor of architecture at the University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design, was honored with a 2023 Icons of Education award by Ingram’s Magazine.

The magazine, which covers business, industry and economic development news in Kansas and Missouri, featured Spreckelmeyer and six other 2023 honorees in its April issue.  

The Icons of Education award recognizes Kansas City-area educators who have demonstrated the exceptional ability to influence students and elevate their academic performance, or whose administrative contributions have enabled teaching staffs to do the same.

Spreckelmeyer has taught courses in design, architectural programming, building evaluation and research methods since 1981 and maintains an active consulting practice. His primary focus in higher education has been the study of the relationship between human well-being and the built environment. He has directed the Health + Wellness internship program at KU since 2009 and has held multiple school and departmental leadership positions. He was instrumental in creating KU’s professional Master of Architecture program in the late 1990s and the Doctor of Philosophy program in 2007.

Spreckelmeyer first came to KU as an undergraduate architecture student from the farming community of Oregon, Missouri.

“Coming from an agricultural background, I was attracted to a profession that was focused on creating structures that fit a specific natural environment and landscape,” Spreckelmeyer said in the magazine. “Most of the buildings I experienced as a young person were built of local materials by the people who would use and occupy those structures. I have retained an interest in the ways environments arise from natural social and environmental processes and serve the specific needs of the human condition.”  

After earning a doctorate in architecture from the University of Michigan, Spreckelmeyer went on to pioneer evidence-based design and environment-behavior research as professor at KU. His investigations into design approaches that improve human health in spaces such as health care facilities, workplaces and educational buildings have been published in numerous books, journals and presentations.

The Icons of Education award is one of numerous honors Spreckelmeyer has received for teaching and research during his career. Most recently, he received the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) 2022 Career Award in recognition of his sustained and significant contributions to environmental design research, practice and teaching.