Rate My Professor Nancy Chikaraishi

Nancy Chikaraishi, AIA, serves as Professor of Architecture in the Hammons School of Architecture at Drury University, where she has taught since 2001, starting as an adjunct professor, advancing to assistant professor from 2002 to 2008, and associate professor from 2008 to present. She earned a Master of Architecture in 1984 and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies in 1982 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, complemented by a year-long study abroad at the Unite Pedagogique d’Architecture in Versailles, France, and the Lloyd Warren Architectural Fellowship for independent study in Japan from 1984 to 1985. Prior to academia, she worked as a licensed architect for 15 years in Chicago and Milwaukee firms, including designer positions at Perkins & Will and Welton Becket Associates in Chicago, architect/designer roles at Beckley/Meyers, Engberg Anderson Design Partnership, and Devine deFlon Yaeger Architects in Milwaukee, and as principal of Art & Architecture, LLC since 1999.

Chikaraishi teaches third- and fifth-year design studios, design-build studios, drawing, foundations of design, architectural representation, and honors courses such as drawing as interpretation, culture, and place. She has directed study abroad programs including five-week courses in Paris (2009, 2011), Tokyo and Kyoto (2005), Paris-Berlin (2003), and Spain-Portugal (2014). Key projects include co-leading post-2011 Joplin tornado design-build efforts: the 10,000 square foot Volunteer Tribute garden in Cunningham Park, Butterfly Garden and Overlook, and GreenTown Joplin Monarch Eco-House. Her students participated in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015 with ShelteR3, a solar-powered tornado-resistant home exhibited in Irvine, California. Awards encompass First Alternate in the 70th Paris Prize in Architecture (1983), first prizes in the Peoria Northside Neighborhood Design Competition and Bastille Days Arc de Triomphe Design (both 1993), Drury University’s Faculty Award for Liberal Learning (2017), Tau Sigma Delta Award in Architecture (2017), President’s Award for Excellence in Community Engagement (2011-2012), and grants including TKF Foundation’s $693,000 for Landscapes of Resilience and $50,000 for Solar Decathlon. As a visual artist, her "Life Interrupted" series on Japanese-American WWII internment features in solo exhibitions at the Rohwer Japanese-American Internment Museum (2014), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (2015), and Drury University galleries, alongside collaborations with CORE Performance Company on multimedia theatrical works. Presentations include topics on resilient design, community resilience through public space, design-build education, and drawing as interpretation at ACSA conferences, Resilience 2014, and others.