Professor of Architecture Galen Cranz is the author of The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body and Design and The Politics of Park Design: A History of Urban Parks in America. She teaches courses on the social and cultural basis of architectural and urban design. Professor Cranz’s current research activity includes the body and the near-environment, the sociology of taste, ethnography for designers, the office of the future, environmental sociology, and sociology of parks. She is the recipient of a National Leadership Fellowship, two Graham Foundation grants, the American Institute of Architects Latrobe Research Fellowship, and several other awards in urban design and public art.