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Lecturer Emeritus Jeh Johnson to Receive Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Award
The Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill will bestow the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Award upon architect and retired Senior Lecturer in Art Jeh Johnson during a ceremony at the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site in Hyde Park on October 18. The award honors people and organizations that demonstrate the values Roosevelt espoused in her public life, among them helping people in need and inspiring the next generation.
Johnson, who taught architectural design at Vassar from 1964 to 2001, will be celebrated for his commitment to social awareness in design throughout his distinguished career and his insistence that designers recognize their social responsibilities and promote fairness and “humaneness” through their work. Johnson, who was a co-founder of the National Organization of Minority Architects and of the New York Coalition of Black Architects, has designed more than 4,300 high-quality, low-cost housing units for underprivileged groups and was an early pioneer of urban development, serving on President Lyndon Johnson’s Commission on Urban Problems in 1967. Johnson also designed the ALANA Center and Susan Stein Shiva Theater on Vassar’s campus as well as several buildings in the Poughkeepsie community.