Linda C. Samuels Promoted to Professor

Linda C. Samuels was promoted to the rank of professor by WashU’s Board of Trustees. The promotion is effective July 1, 2023.

“I am thrilled for this well-deserved recognition of Linda’s significant contributions to creative practice, scholarship, teaching, and service,” Carmon Colangelo, the Sam Fox School’s Ralph J. Nagel Dean, said.

Samuels joined the Sam Fox School as an associate professor in urban design in 2015 and achieved tenure in 2016. She teaches architecture and urban design studios as well as seminars on infrastructural urbanism, urban history and theory, and alternative sustainability metrics. Both her teaching and her creative practice focus on design as a vehicle for social change. Her 2022 book, Infrastructural Optimism (Routledge), captures strategies for investments in public infrastructure that bring about sustainable, equitable outcomes. These timely inquiries are vital as the nation grapples with aging infrastructure, climate change, and social and environmental disparities.

Samuels’ Mellon Foundation–funded project, “Mobility For All By All,” arose out of collaborative efforts to assure that the pending multi-billion-dollar investment in St. Louis’ Metrolink expansion be inclusive and accessible for the residents it would serve. Her work with Los Angeles’ Bureau of Engineering and Mayor’s Office is focused on developing an infrastructure equity scorecard that would help guide large investments in neighborhoods that need it most. Samuels is particularly committed to a healthy and holistic school culture, and has chaired the school’s Learning and Culture Committee since 2019. She also serves on the advisory board for WashU’s Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity. Samuels took an active role in the school’s strategic planning process on both the Engaging St. Louis and Sustainability and Urbanism working groups.

You can learn more about Samuels’ teaching and practice on her faculty page.