The Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (Harvard GSD) is proud to welcome the class of 2025 Loeb Fellows. These visionary practitioners and activists are transforming public spaces and urban infrastructure, rectifying health and environmental injustices, addressing housing needs, and preserving cultural, natural, and architectural heritage. They are inspired and inspiring mid-career professionals who come from diverse backgrounds around the world but share passion and purpose—to strengthen their abilities to advance equity and resilience and to harness the power of collective action.
During their ten-month residency at Harvard GSD, Loeb Fellows immerse themselves in a rich academic environment, auditing courses at Harvard and MIT, exchanging insights, and expanding professional networks. They engage actively with Harvard GSD students and faculty, participate as speakers and panelists at public events, and convene workshops and other activities that encourage knowledge sharing and creation. Throughout, Loeb Fellows consider how they might refocus their careers and broaden the impact of their work.
The ten class of 2025 Loeb Fellows are:
Mariana Alegre, founder and executive director of Sistema Urbano, Lima, Peru
Pierre-Emmanuel Becherand, head of design, culture, and urban planning for the Grand Paris Express, Paris, France
Dr. Leanne Brady, health systems activist and filmmaker, Cape Town, South Africa
Shana M. griffin, founder of PUNCTUATE, New Orleans, USA
Nikishka Iyengar, founder and CEO of The Guild, Atlanta, USA
Tawkiyah Jordan, vice president of housing and community strategy, Habitat for Humanity, New York, USA
Tosin Oshinowo, founder and principal of Oshinowo Studio, Lagos, Nigeria
Sahar Qawasmi, cofounder Sakiya – Art | Science | Agriculture, Ramallah, Palestine
Matt Smith, cofounder and director, Building Common Ground, Santa Fe, USA
Tunde Wey, social practice artist, Lagos, Nigeria, and Detroit, USA.
“Every year, Loeb Fellows bring an incomparable breadth and diversity of experience to the GSD. They inspire us with their accomplishments, enrich conversation across our school, and challenge us to think critically about how designers can create a more just world,” says Sarah M. Whiting, Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture at Harvard GSD, “I could not be more excited to welcome the class of 2025 to campus next fall, and to see what they achieve during their year in residence with us.”
“The most valuable and provocative aspect of the Loeb Fellowship is who we identify and embrace as the very broad group of practitioners that shape our built and natural environment,” says Loeb Fellowship curator John Peterson. “From writers to activists, and architects to physicians, the incoming class of 2025 is a wonderful expression of our value in diversity.” Peterson is an architect, activist, and a Loeb Fellow in the class of 2006.
The Loeb Fellowship continues its collaboration with the ArtLab at Harvard University to welcome Shana M. griffin as its 2025 Loeb/ArtLab Fellow. griffin will have access to studio space and will be able to engage with the ArtLab community and its intellectual resources and networks.
Bree Edwards, director of the ArtLab, a laboratory for research in the arts, says “I look forward to ways that the ArtLab’s creative community will engage with and learn from the cross-disciplinary practice of artist, activist, and scholar Shana M. griffin,” the fourth recipient of the Loeb/ArtLab Fellowship. Previous recipients are Jordan Weber ’22, Dario Calmese ’23, and Joseph Zeal Henry ’24.
After their year in residence at Harvard GSD, Loeb Fellows join a powerful worldwide network of over 450 lifelong Loeb Fellowship alumni including recognized leaders like Jordan Weber ’22, Rick Lowe ’02, Robin Chase ’05, Monica Rhodes ’22, Mary Means ’82, Eleni Myrivili ’20, Gisli Marteinn Baldursson ’15, Mark Lamster ’17, Janet Echelman ’08, and Andrew Freear ’18.
The Loeb Fellowship traces its roots to the late 1960s, when John L. Loeb directed a Harvard GSD campaign based on the theme of “Crisis.” Loeb saw the American city in disarray and believed Harvard could help. He imagined bringing promising innovators of the built and natural environment to Harvard GSD for a year, challenging them to do more and do better, convinced they would return to their work with new ideas and energy.