Designers and Innovators

Michael J. Gulich, AIA, LEED AP, LFA

National Sustainability Leader & Architect, AIA, LEED AP, LFA

On the other side of the Purdue Memorial Union renovation, we are pleased to offer an interview with national sustainability leader and architect Michael J. Gulich, AIA, LEED AP, LFA. Michael is the Senior Director of Campus Planning, Architecture, and Sustainability and University Architect at Purdue University where he is responsible for directing the campus master planning process for the Purdue system’s 26 million square feet of facilities and for providing the vision, organizational strategy, and focus for advancing sustainability efforts.

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Designers and Innovators

Daren A. Ellerbee

Community Engagement Professional – Director, University of Pittsburgh Community Engagement Center in Homewood

Daren A. Ellerbee is a Community Engagement Professional (CEP) and the inaugural director of the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) University Educational Outreach Center (EOC), a unit within the Office of the Provost. Ellerbee began her career at Pitt in 2017 as the director of the university’s first Community Engagement Center in Homewood. Prior to Pitt, she was a Community Affairs & Equity Strategist for the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh.  

Described as architect and lead of Pitt’s hyperlocal, placed-based engagements in the East End, Daren remains committed to social-justice and promoting thriving for all. She steers, builds, and maintains relationships towards reciprocity, recognizing that the resources of Pitt combined with the wisdom of the community can help to bring about social change. As the director of the EOC she supports K-12 pathways to college, with the goal of increasing diversity and reducing racial disparities in many fields including Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). She aligns goals and bridges relationships connecting people and priorities with the hope of producing transformative outcomes. 

A Pittsburgher, Ms. Ellerbee earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication & Rhetoric and Africana Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Master of Science degree in Communications and Information Systems from Robert Morris University. Currently, she is earning a doctorate in Urban Education from Pitt’s School of Education. 

Ellerbee is very civically engaged and has served on numerous non-profit boards including the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, is a founding member of Robert Morris University’s Black Alumni Council, and continues to be a dedicated mentor and champion for high-potential youth. She is a current board member for the Association for Resilient Campus Design and Innovation.

Acknowledgements for Ellerbee include being named by Pittsburgh Magazine and PUMP as one of their 40 Under 40 in 2018. She is a 2013 recipient of the New Pittsburgh Courier’s FAB 40 Award, as well as a recipient of the Mayor of Pittsburgh’s Citizen Service Award in which May 18, 2012, was named “Daren Ellerbee Day” in the City of Pittsburgh.

Podcast Episodes Below

Designers and Innovators

Kelly Jahn

Interior Architect, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP

Kelly Jahn is a licensed, LEED accredited architect with over 20 years’ experience specializing in the design of interior space. She is the owner of Kelly Jahn Interior Architecture & Design, a research based interior architecture and design practice in Rochester, New York. Her experience includes a diverse portfolio of project types including corporate workplace, higher education, municipal projects, and hospitality. Kelly sits on the Advisory Board on Public Space for City Space Architecture out of Bologna, Italy, working in partnership with UN-Habitat’s Global Public Space Program, to study, make, spread, and share public space culture through an interdisciplinary approach. She is passionate about the role of building interiors as a part of the urban network and bringing interior designers to the table for conversations about urban revitalization, resiliency, and public space. Kelly is also a visiting lecturer in the Department of Interior Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

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Designers and Innovators

Loren Rullman, Ph.D.

Leader Principal & Director, Higher Education at WORKSHOP ARCHITECTS

Loren J. Rullman, PhD, is Principal and Director of Higher Education at Workshop Architects.. He recently joined the firm after a distinguished 32-year career in university administration. Prior to the firm, Loren most recently served as Vice Provost for Student Affairs at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, MI; and prior to this served for a decade as Associate Vice President for Student Life at the University of Michigan and in similar roles at several other public and private institutions. His broad experience includes having led or supervised most student affairs functions and staff; responsibility for a $150 million self-generated auxiliary budget; and oversight of $1 billion in campus and facility planning, construction, and renovation. Rullman has presented at over 40 conferences, authored 12 publications, founded and taught in a higher education graduate program, and served on two higher education association boards of directors.

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