Renée Cheng

Renée Cheng is dean of the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington.

Previously, she was professor and Head of the School of Architecture and Associate Dean of Research at the University of Minnesota, where she directed an innovative graduate program linking research with practice and licensure.

As a licensed architect, her professional experience includes work for Pei, Cobb, Freed and Partners and Richard Meier and Partners before founding Cheng-Olson Design. Cheng is also a leader in the American Institute of Architects and advocates for equity in the fields of architecture and the built environment. She led the research effort for the AIA guides for equitable practice in the workplace and has pioneered research surrounding the intersection of design and emerging technologies, including work on industry adoption of Integrated Project Delivery, Building Information Modeling and Lean.