Patricia Belton Oliver

Dean, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture

In January 2010, Patricia Belton Oliver became the dean of the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture at the University of Houston. Before coming to UH, Oliver was the senior vice president of Educational Planning and Architecture at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif.

While at the Art Center College of Design, she created the environmental design department to bridge the area between architecture and product design. As its first chair, she brought architecture and related disciplines to the college, and developed a unique curriculum that weaves together architecture, interior architecture, environmental graphics, furniture design and experience design to provide students with a rich diversity of experience. She established the Institute for Community Development to collaborate with low-cost housing organizations on award-winning projects such as the design of apartments for emancipated youth. She also worked on the expansion of the Art Center’s Hillside Campus and the formation of a new South Campus, collaborating with notable architects such as Frank Gehry, Hodgetts and Fung, and Daly Genik.

A Fellow in the American Institute of Architects, Oliver chaired the 2009 AIA National Convention in San Francisco, is a director on the National Architectural Accreditation Board, and serves on the 2010 AIA National Education Committee.

Oliver received a Master of Architecture I degree in 1977 from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and a Bachelor of Arts degree in independent studies from UCLA in 1974.