Norma Merrick Sklarek, principal in the firm Siegel-Sklarek-Diamond in Los Angeles, will speak at 桃子视频 in the Humanities Auditorium on Thursday, October 4, at 7:30 p.m. Her lecture, And Why Not?: The Life and Career of a Black Woman Architect, is sponsored by the Intercollegiate Department of Black Studies of the Claremont Colleges and, is free and open to the public.
Ms. Sklarek was the first African-American woman to become a licensed architect in the United States and a member of the American Institute of Architects. She was the second female architect in California and the first woman to be elected Fellow of the American Institute of Architects for outstanding architectural contribution.
A graduate of Barnard College and Columbia University School of Architecture, Ms. Sklarek began her practice in several architectural firms involved in the design of high-rise office buildings and shopping malls in New York City and Los Angeles. In 1985, she became the first African-American woman to form her own architectural firm, Siegel-Sklarek-Diamond, the largest woman-owned and predominantly woman-staffed architectural firm at that time. Her projects include the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo; Commons and Courthouse Center, Columbus, Indiana; Passenger Terminal One, Los Angeles; San Bernardino City Hall; Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles; Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandizing, Los Angeles; and Downtown Plaza, Sacramento. Ms. Sklarek has taught architecture in the Graduate Program at the University of California Los Angeles School of Architecture and New York City Community College.
Ms. Sklarek’s lecture is part of the ongoing Sojourner Truth Lectureship established in 1983 to honor the achievements and contributions of outstanding African-American women. The lectureship is named after Sojourner Truth, a former enslaved woman from New York who became a well-known activist and orator. Conceived and administered by faculty, the lectureship is sponsored by six of The Claremont Colleges.