Professor Thomas Fowler Awarded Distinguished Teaching Award 

Professor Thomas Fowler teaches third-year design and building technology courses, works with independent study students and co-teaches a combined interdisciplinary fourth-year studio and a graduate-level building design studio. He brings more than 30 years of teaching and a breadth of design experience that are not lost on architecture students at any level of the program. 

“I can say he challenges me to think about where I am in life, how I am learning, and how to take charge of my own learning in ways I haven’t done in the past,” said one senior in her nomination letter.

In addition, Professor Fowler is also director of the graduate architecture program and oversees the award-winning Community Interdisciplinary Design Studio (CIDS) that he founded in 1997 to give students access to cutting-edge digital technology for the design and construction of a range of interdisciplinary projects. In a word, he’s an inspiration.

“Tom has inspired me to become an architect,” said a nomination letter that lauded his design method. Thinking about content of a project and its systems has inspired me to pursue becoming a practicing architect and designer,” she continued. “My outlook on what an architect/designer does has changed because of him, and I am inspired.” He has taught at Cal Poly since 1995.

Professor (Bachelor of Architecture, New York Institute of Technology / old Westbury Campus; Master of Architecture, Cornell University)
Architecture Department
College of Architecture and Environmental Design