Skip to content Skip to main navigation Report an accessibility issue

2020 Global Catalyst Award

The Global Catalyst Award honors those who enhance intercultural and international awareness of students and the campus community.

Scott Wall

Scott WallScott Wall is both an alumnus of and professor in the School of Architecture. A Fulbright Fellow to Finland in 2003, he is one of the founders of the College of Architecture and Design’s Finland Summer Architecture Institute, a 10-week study-abroad program in Helsinki. He continues to serve as the residency director for the program, which has involved more than 200 students and 17 faculty members over the past 19 years. As director of the School of Architecture, a role he held from 2009 to 2014, Wall designed and instituted the school’s undergraduate degree requirement for a semester-long study abroad program. He has served on the university’s Programs Abroad Committee, Ready for the World Committee, and Academic Outreach and Engagement Council. His ongoing research focuses on the intersection of architectural design and cultural practice.

What does this award mean to you?

Receiving this award is incredibly special to me. I have been deeply impacted academically and personally by my experiences abroad. And I’ve always felt that there really is no better means than travel abroad to foster a student’s understanding of other cultures. Fostering an awareness and acceptance of difference in small ways holds the potential to reshape the world around us. Being recognized as a global catalyst reaffirms for me that cross-cultural learning is a necessary core of all education.