Paul Emmons, professor of architecture in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech, has been named the Patrick and Nancy Lathrop Professor of Architecture by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

The Patrick and Nancy Lathrop Professorship was established by the Lathrops to recognize an architecture professor who demonstrates excellence in the field.

A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1998, Emmons is based at Virginia Tech’s Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center. He is a registered architect, coordinates the doctoral program in architecture and design research, and has served as associate dean for graduate studies in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies since 2018.

Emmons has more than two decades of combined teaching, research, and service, and has built an international presence in the field of history and theory of architectural practices that has brought Virginia Tech distinction and respect. He has the unique capacity to transpose architectural history and theory into contemporary contexts and to envision futures for the architectural discipline in meaningful ways.

Emmons’ book, “Drawing Imagining Building,” was published in 2019. In addition to co-editing “Ceilings and Dreams” (2019),  “Confabulations, Storytelling in Architecture” (2017), and “The Cultural Role of Architecture” (2012), Emmons has also published numerous book chapters and journal articles, including “Bodies, Books and Buildings: Encountering the Renaissance Frontispiece” in “Chora Seven, Intervals in the Philosophy of Architecture” (2015), “On Reading what is written between the lines; the esoteric dimension of Ebenezer Howard’s ‘Garden Cities’” in “Architecture’s Appeal” (2015), and “Teaching Drawing and Representation” in “Two Centuries of Architecture Education in North America” (MIT Press, 2012).

Emmons received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Related stories

Paul Emmons named associate dean for graduate studies in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies

Share this story