Charles W. Graham
Dean, College of Architecture

Dean Charles W. Graham Charles W. Graham, an award-winning educator and architect whose specialties include residential design and construction, has been named dean of the University of Oklahoma College of Architecture. His appointment was approved by the OU Board of Regents at its June meeting. Graham will succeed Bob Fillpot, who has served as dean of the College of Architecture since 1998. Fillpot announced earlier this year his desire to returning to teaching, and his willingness to continue as dean until a successor was named. “Charles Graham has provided outstanding leadership for the architecture program at Texas A&M and is well respected in his field across the nation,” said OU President David L. Boren. “He is also skilled as a leader and a team builder. He was the unanimous first choice of the committee, which presided over a national search to select the next dean. As we look forward with excitement to the completion of the new architecture building now under construction, we have in Charles Graham the right leader to take the college to the next level of excellence. We look forward to welcoming him and his family to Norman.” Graham comes to OU from Texas A&M University, where he is the executive associate dean of the College of Architecture and the holder of the History Maker Homes Endowed Professorship in Residential Construction and Visualization Research. His career in higher education began in 1978, when he was named instructor and adviser-of-record in the Architecture Program at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Today, the Architecture Program at UTSA is accredited and has more than 350 architecture majors and 350 interior design majors. In 1982, he joined the faculty of Texas A&M University, rising through the ranks from senior lecturer to professor of construction science, graduate program coordinator and then interim department head of the Department of Construction Science. He is also a founding member of the National Consortium of Housing Research Centers, a consortium of 17 universities and three private research labs that conduct housing research worldwide. In addition to residential design and construction, Graham specializes in sustainable construction, alternative construction delivery systems and building failure analysis. He is a well-known forensic architect, who conducts building failure investigations across the United States and abroad. Graham is a registered architect and registered interior designer in the state of Texas as well as a registered fallout shelter analyst with the U.S. Department of Civil Defense. He also is certified in the structural design of buildings in high wind and flood-prone areas of coastal environments. He is active in several state and national professional organizations, including the American Institute of Architects and its Brazos chapter, Texas Society of Architects, The Masonry Society, Design-Build Institute of America, International Code Congress and Adobe Association of the Southwest. He is the recipient of many professional and collegiate honors and awards, including election into the College of Fellows of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors in Great Britain. He was the winner in 2005 of the Arie Huizer Award for the best paper on technologies for developing countries, presented at the 10th Canadian Masonry Symposium. Graham earned his bachelor’s degree in architecture with honors from Texas Tech University, master of arts degree in environmental management from the University of Texas at San Antonio and doctor of philosophy degree in urban and regional science from Texas A&M University. He and his wife, M’Liss, a public school teacher, have three daughters.