April 28, 2021
APDesign architecture professor selected for Tyson Scholar of American Art program
Joseph Watson, assistant professor of architecture in the College of Architecture, Planning & Design, has been selected for the 2020–2021 Tyson Scholar of American Art program. As part of the program, Watson will spend the summer at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.
The Tyson Scholars of American Art Program supports research and writing on American art and visual and material culture, including architectural history and theory. Watson will use his time at the museum to advance his book manuscript, tentatively titled "The Skyscraper and the Suburb: Metropolitan Machinations in American Architecture, 1890–1940." The book explores architects' efforts to manage competing social, cultural, economic and environmental forces introduced by the automobile in the early 20th century.
Watson will be participating in a virtual roundtable on race and American architecture at the end of May as part of the Society of Architectural Historians' SAH Connects series. He will also present a paper on the environmental imaginaries embodied in the Standard Oil Building in New York as part of the "Architectural History and Climate Emergency" symposium sponsored by the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain taking place in mid-June.
The Tyson Scholars of American Art Program was established in 2012 through a $5 million commitment from the Tyson family and Tyson Foods Inc. Since its inception, the Tyson Scholars Program has supported the work of 46 scholars, attracting academic professionals in a variety of disciplines nationally and internationally.