Director
PURL

Office: 9th floor PURL
Phone: 480.727.9890
nancy.levinson@asu.edu

Nancy Levinson is an architect, editor, and writer. In her work in print and online periodicals and books and now at Phoenix Urban Research Lab, her goal is to promote a broad understanding and appreciation of the public arts of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design and in this way to advocate for a vigorous civic realm. Recipient of a Bachelors of Arts in English from Yale and a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, she practiced architecture for several years in Philadelphia, collaborating on the design of dance studios for the Pennsylvania Ballet and music performance spaces for Swarthmore College. At the Harvard Graduate School of Design, she cofounded Harvard Design Magazine and directed issues on diverse topics including monuments and memorials, sprawl and spectacle culture, changing perceptions of nature, postcommunist Eastern Europe, the nature of representation, and the volatility of professional recognition and artistic canons. More recently at Princeton Architectural Press, she edited books on topics ranging from the perception of architecture to vernacular photography. She has contributed to many periodicals, including Architectural Record (where she is a contributing editor), Perspecta, I.D., Metropolis, Dwell, Landscape Architecture, Graphis, Boston Review, The Christian Science Monitor, Planning, Historic Preservation, and the emagazine Knowledge Circuit. For two years she wrote the architecture weblog “Pixel Points” for Arts Journal. She has reported on many subjects, including the rise of private architectural practice in China, the increasing interdependence of universities and cities, the legacy of Cuban modernism, and the transformative effects of digital communication on design culture.

Program Manager
PURL

Office: 9th floor PURL
Phone: 480.727.9888
jason.franz@asu.edu

Jason Franz oversees events, external relations, and operations at Phoenix Urban Research Laboratory. Jason has spent the majority of his life living in the Phoenix area and completed his bachelor’s degree at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU. Prior to joining PURL, Jason was the Director of Events and Communications for the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona. He also worked for ten years in various forms of broadcast entertainment and television production working for companies such as Viacom, Disney, iBeam Broadcasting, and Sony Entertainment and on such programs as the Grammy Awards, UNICEF: A Gift of Song, and the ALMA Awards.

Coordinator, Planning + Design Academy
PURL

Office: 9th floor PURL
Phone: 480.727.9819
laurel.arndt@asu.edu

Laurel Arndt is responsible for the development of continuing education workshops for practitioners in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and development, and planning. She earned the Bachelor of Business and Master of Environmental Planning degrees from Arizona State University. In addition to her work for the college, Arndt is an environmental planning consultant specializing in open space conservation and park and trail planning. She is active in civic affairs, serving on the Maricopa County Parks Board, the Planning Committee for the McDowell Mountain Preserve, and the City of Phoenix Ahwatukee Foothills Village Planning Committee.

Coordinator, Summer Design Workshop
PURL

Office: 9th floor PURL
Phone: 480.727.9887
tim.kniseley@asu.edu

Tim Kniseley is Coordinator of both the Summer Design Workshop and the Athena Living + Learning Community in the College of Design. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in Spanish, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, he lived for several years in Quito, Ecuador. More recently, upon coming to Phoenix, he earned a master’s degree in Higher and Postsecondary Education from ASU. For the Athena residential program, he works with high-achieving, first-year university students, helping them negotiate the transition to higher education and university life. For the Summer Design Workshop, he works with high school students from diverse backgrounds who are considering careers in design, overseeing the summer course of study and then helping them prepare for university.