Jhennifer Amundson

Biography

Jhennifer A. Amundson, Ph.D., is the inaugural Dean of the College of Architecture and Design at Belmont University in Nashville. Prior to joining Belmont in 2019, she served as Associate Provost of Faculty, Dean of the School of Art, Design, and Architecture, and Professor of Architecture at Judson University in Elgin, Illinois.

Dr. Amundson completed her doctoral studies at the University of Delaware after receiving the M.Arch. and B.S.A.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In addition to her responsibilities as Dean, Dr. Amundson developed the curriculum for Belmont’s new programs in architecture, with special focus on the five-year B.Arch., for which Belmont is candidacy for accreditation by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). As a Professor of Architecture, she focuses on the program's innovative, multi-year learning portfolio curriculum. Her broader academic interests include equitable practices and pedagogy in design education, distance and hybrid learning, digital humanities, academic experience as vocational discernment (and vice-versa), and transformational community-based educational partnerships.

As a former architect, she studies architectural history with a particular interest in 19th-century style, theory and technology, the history of the profession of architecture, and the education of architects. Supported by grants and fellowships from such institutions as the National Endowment for the Humanities, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Capitol Historical Society, Athenaeum of Philadelphia, Graham Foundation and Winterthur Museum, she has published extensively, especially in connection with the topic of her dissertation and first book publication, Thomas U. Walter. Her recent research focuses on the architectural and social histories of maternity hospitals in the United States.