For immediate release — February 2009

(DALLAS) — Clyde Porter, associate vice chancellor of facilities for the Dallas County Community College District, has spent decades overseeing facilities, campus planning and building efforts. As his professional responsibilities grew, so did his interest in helping aspiring minority students who wanted to become architects. As a mentor to those students and as co-founder of the Texas chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects, Porter witnessed the transformation of those students as they trained to become architects — first at DCCCD, then at his alma mater, Prairie View A&M University.

His dedication to the profession and to minority students who seek to enter that field recently earned Porter national honors from the American Institute of Architects when he received AIA’s prestigious 2009 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award. The honor is given to an architect or architecturally oriented organization that exemplifies the profession’s responsibility toward current social issues. He will receive the award during AIA’s national convention this year.

AIA board member Jeff Potter, who nominated Porter, said, “It is clear that (Clyde) Porter has always charted a course that allowed room for those whose paths are fraught with obstacles, and our culture and profession are better for it.”

Porter, who joined DCCCD 21 years ago, oversees millions of dollars of buildings on seven main campuses and several satellite facilities that house and educate more than 70,000 credit and 27,000 continuing education students each semester.

“My work at DCCCD has given me an opportunity to help create education facilities that provide affordable options at our community colleges to students who often come from low-income and minority families — usually their first taste of success in the world of higher
education,” said Porter.

During his tenure at DCCCD — and before that time when he served as chief architect for Dallas Area Rapid Transit — Porter started initiatives to ensure that female- and minority-operated architecture, engineering and contracting firms had more opportunities to conduct business with the district. “Since that time, half of the work commissioned by DCCCD has been awarded to female- and minority-owned firms, proving that increased proportions of minority participation are possible in the building design and construction industry,” said Porter.

Through his efforts as co-founder of the Texas chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects, Porter established an intern program at DCCCD, and he regularly recruits from Prairie View A&M, a historically African-American university. As chair of the Dallas AIA minority resources committee, he also began a summer internship program for minority architects. Additionally, he has made it a habit to reach out to young people before they attend college, encouraging them to envision themselves as architects. He speaks to elementary and middle school students during career day activities on a regular basis, explaining the ways that architects can change and grow their own communities to include minority and low-income children.

Past recipients of the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award include J. Max Bond, FAIA (1987); Habitat for Humanity (1988); Curtis J. Moody, FAIA (1992); and the National Organization of Minority Architects (2007).

DCCCD — the largest undergraduate institution in the state of Texas — serves more than 70,000 credit and 27,000 continuing education students each semester. The district comprises seven individually accredited institutions, including Brookhaven, Cedar Valley, Eastfield, El Centro, Mountain View, North Lake and Richland colleges, plus DCCCD’s virtual campus, the Dallas TeleCollege, and several additional locations. Visit http://www.dcccd.edu for details.

AIA members have worked together for more than 150 years, in conjunction with their communities, to create more valuable, healthy, secure and sustainable buildings and cityscapes. By using sustainable design practices, materials and techniques, AIA architects are providing the leadership and guidance needed to provide solutions to address climate change. For more information, visit http://www.aia.org.
                                                      
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Press contact: Ann Hatch
214-387-1819; ahatch@dcccd.edu