Board Member

Tommy Hernandez joined the faculty at NewSchool of Architecture & Design in 2020. As an undergraduate, he served as AIAS-NewSchool’s Chapter President for the 2018-2019 school year, earning the title of Chapter Leader of the Month for December 2018 as well as received the AIAS Chapter President Honor Award in 2019. His contribution to the AIAS chapter and his members was honored further with the AIAS Chapter Honor Award in 2019. Tommy’s activities vary widely including learning about experiential qualities of architecture through Neuroscience, sketching, and reading. In addition to teaching, Tommy works as a designer with De Bartolo + Rimanic Design Studios (DBRDS) and is a director for the Committee of One Hundred (C100).

Director and Scholarship Committee Chair

Miti was an Assistant Professor in the Architecture program at NewSchool of Architecture and Design, and taught there from 2005 - 2020. She held the position of coordinator of the History of Architecture and Urban Design sequence and taught First Year Undergraduate Design Studio, Undergraduate and Graduate level History of Architecture, Undergraduate and Graduate level Urban Design courses.
She also taught Freehand Drawing, Rendering and Delineation, Mixed Media and Art History courses. Miti has been associated with NewSchool since 2006, where she started her career as a Professional Teaching Assistant, then becoming Adjunct Professor in 2007, Full-time Lecturer in 2010 and was elevated to Assistant Professor in 2014.

Originally from Italy, Miti holds a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from North Dakota State University. She obtained a Post-Professional Master of Architecture and Urban Design from Syracuse University in 2007, with a study abroad grant for the Syracuse campus in Florence, Italy.

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Miti is a visual artist, a published poet, and a practitioner with experience in architectural practices in the US and in Italy.

She is Principal Designer and owner of ArchistDesign Studio, responsible for projects ranging from residential remodels, to 3D visualization to, recently, permitting process for a nightclub, part of an urban infill project of a city block in Downtown San Diego. She was awarded the AIA Associate Award in 2006 and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Architecture for Humanity/Rebuild San Diego chapter and the NewSchool Foundation.

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Miti is also the co-founder of Builtculture, an online repository for lectures, design events, and cultural happenings in Architecture and Art in the Southern California and Baja region.  During the summers of 2013 and 2014, she was a Visiting Professor at Santa Fe University of Art and Design, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She co-taught a course, Myth of the City- Build Your Own, a laboratory for speculation on the relationship between symbols, myth, narrative, architecture and urban design tailored to students of architecture and design disciplines. Miti is currently working on a book on visual notes for the study of History of Architecture. Her research interests include new ex-urban enclaves and games of urban activism in the critical city.

Director

Gil Cooke has enjoyed a long and varied career in the architectural world. He has been a draftsman, designer, principal architect and president with 8 different companies and holds his architectural license with the state of Maryland. Gil is a founding member of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture, President of the Baltimore Chapter of AIA and has served as President and Dean of NewSchool. Gil joined NewSchool in 2002.

Board Member

Katinka is an Alumni of NewSchool of Architecture and Design. She currently serves on the NewSchool Alumni Advisory Board and is a Project Manager at Allgire General Contractors in San Diego. Katinka is also the Cofounder of NotLY San Diego, a free architectural licensing support network.

Hay Fund Committee

Tracy received her Bachelor of Architecture from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo and is a Project Manager at GSA in San Diego. She is a California Registered Architect and a United States Green Building Council Leader in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional in Building Design and Construction. Tracy serves as Member on the New School of Architecture Construction Management Advisory Board and volunteers with the California Architects Board on their Supplemental Exam Development Workshops. Prior to NAVFAC and working with Safdie Rabines Architects,  Tracy was a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania, East Africa, from 1998 – 2000, where she taught Math and Geography at an all girls’ high school level boarding school on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Board Member

Julia Cota is an Alumni of NewSchool of Architecture and Design. She graduated at the top of her class in December, 2015 with a Magna Cum Laude Master of Architecture degree as well as receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture degree from Newschool in 2013.

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Julia was awarded the Dr. Steve Altman Pillars Scholarship in 2015 for her work with Yantalo Peru Foundation, a non-profit organization that strives towards enhancing the quality of life of the residents in a small community in the northern Andes Mountains of Peru. The foundation selected her student design projects to be built, which includes a Higher Education Facility geared towards the medical field and an Eco-Hotel Project that will cater to volunteers and tourists from around the world (projects awarded in 2013 and 2014). (http://juliacota-designs.pagecloud.com/)

Julia’s recent work includes a Master of Architecture Thesis book entitled: The Tijuana River Restoration Project Integrating Architecture +  Planning + Nature (to be published in 2016). Her year-long research study focused on investigating an area of design in dire need of design solutions. The design work and research outlined in her book attempt to inform and inspire design professionals to champion for the most difficult problems facing humanity, through the efforts of the creative collaborative class of students and professionals.

Julia is a Project Designer at Hubbard Godfrey Architects, Inc.

Director

In 1994, Cynthia M. Malecha, accepted a position at North Carolina State University, Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science to serve as an Administrative Assistant. She was promoted to Assistant Director of Finance in 2001. Cynthia also served as the University Fiscal Officer for the Kenan Fellows Program for Curriculum and Leadership Development (an initiative of the Kenan Institute Engineering, Technology & Science). Her duties included special events for both the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science and the Kenan Fellows Program. Cynthia retired from North Carolina State University after almost 22 years of service.

Exofficio Student Member

Nick is a class of 2018 alumni at Newschool of Architecture & Design. Along with being a board member for the Newschool Foundation, he also served as Student Council President in 2016. Having grown up in Seattle WA, Nick finds a lot of design inspiration in the beauty of nature. Spending a lot of his free time outside, he is pursuing an architecture career emphasizing the importance of nature within architecture. During his academic career at NewSchool, Nick was active in the planning and organization of student activities, as well as assisting in administrative tasks to further the growth and development of the school. Nick is an Office Engineer at Hensel Phelps.

Board Members

Since its founding in the early 1990s, The NewSchool Foundation has benefitted from the distinguished service of many past Board Members. 

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They include:

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​Gordon Bishop, Robert Imber, Mary Jane Fuller, Kathleen Roarty, Herb Turner, Mitra Kanaani, Bob Lindstom, Ralph Roesling, Joe Timko, Joe Nicholson, Ken Packer, Kent Coston, Fred VonBorsetl, Drew Hubbell, Dirk Sutro, Greg Robe, Harriet Gill, Stephanie Weiner, Denise Duscheone, Peter Guardiano, Lesley Henegar, Robert Pheister, Karen Bishop, Karen Kinney, Vicki Ganguli, Bill Kletke, Nina Karaviseles, 

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