Summary: The Obama Administration announced that they had appointed Thom Mayne, FAIA, to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities last month. Mayne is a Pritzker Prize winner, and founder of Los Angeles-based Morphosis Architects. He is also co-founder of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and a professor at the UCLA Architecture and Urban Design school. Initially regarded as an avant-garde and experimental architect, Mayne has completed a number of large public buildings for the General Services Administration that have been rewarded with its Design Excellence awards program. Some of his most notable buildings include the Wayne Lyman Morse United States Courthouse in Eugene, Ore., the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Md., 41 Cooper Square in New York, and the San Francisco Federal Building.

Led by its honorary chairperson First Lady Michelle Obama, the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities has advanced the White House’s arts and humanities agendas since 1982. Through working directly with three cultural agencies (the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services), the President’s committee supports existing programs, recognizes excellence in the arts and humanities, and encourages private-public collaborations.

Christine Forester, a former healthcare architect who now heads Christine Forester Catalyst, a business, marketing and branding company, was also named to the committee. Other notable appointees include cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Vogue magazine editor Anna Wintour, and actress Sarah Jessica Parker.