LEGENDS INTERVIEWED BY FRAN PRUYN, CPSM As part of our ongoing series of interviews with architectural legends, we are proud to present this interview with Brenda Scheer, FAIA. It was a pleasure to interview her and to learn more about her fascinating career in developing urban planning and design programs in the state of Utah when there had previously been nothing. She truly is a role model for women architects. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. When did you decide to become an architect? After I’d already started college. I grew up in Oklahoma, and there were no architects anywhere near where I lived. I had no idea that was a viable profession for a woman. My dad always said, “You can be whatever you want to be,” which for a woman in the ‘50s and ‘60s was kind of unusual. So, I decided to be an engineer. I went to Rice University and was an engineer for about a semester. I had a friend who was an architecture student, and she would carry around triangles and had drawings. And I thought, “That’s what I want.” They accepted me in the architecture school — they don’t usually let people in without portfolios, but I’d already passed muster as an engineering student. Architecture school was very difficult. I was in a class of 25 people, and there were three women. I started school in 1971. It was especially difficult for women because they were harassed. We were harassed by fellow students; we were harassed by the faculty. Of the three women that started with me, I was the only one who finished. What did that harassment look like? One is outright harassment. You stand up in front of juries for a review, which is very tense and very difficult. The professor would make fun of my miniskirt, the way I was standing or what I wore. Another form of harassment was that they just didn’t give me any attention. I had professors who didn’t believe that women should be in architecture school. They wouldn’t come to your desk and give you a critique. When they did come over, they would just stare and turn away. The fact that I hadn’t worked Photo: Centre City, Terre Haute, Indiana, with David Scheer Brenda Scheer FAIA 10 REFLEXION
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