News Stories

Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation, will address graduates at the Boston Architectural College’s 118th Commencement exercises on Saturday, May 26, 2007. Commencement will take place at 11:00am at the Old South Church, 645 Boylston Street, Boston.

Paul S. Grogan
Paul S. Grogan became the President and CEO of the Boston Foundation, one of the nation’s oldest and largest community foundations, on July 1, 2001. With assets of more than $830 million, the Foundation distributed grants of more than $63 million to nonprofit organizations throughout the Greater Boston community in 2006. The Foundation’s grant making is designed to respond to the critical challenges of our constantly changing community by supporting high-impact, innovative programs.

Grogan joined the Foundation from Harvard University, where he served as Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs from 1999 to 2001. One of five vice presidents of the University, he oversaw all government relations for Harvard, relations with Harvard’s host communities of Cambridge and Boston, and the Harvard news office. He was also a Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School.

From 1986 through 1998 he was President and CEO of the nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the nation’s largest community development intermediary. In Mr. Grogan’s term as president, LISC raised and invested more than $3 billion of private capital in inner-city revitalization efforts across America, all channeled through local nonprofit community development corporations.

Before joining LISC, Mr. Grogan served Boston Mayors Kevin H. White and Raymond L. Flynn in a variety of staff and line positions. He headed Boston’s Neighborhood Development and Employment Agency in the early 1980s, where he pioneered a series of public/private ventures that have been widely emulated by other cities. These included the Boston Housing Partnership, which steers private dollars into the financing of affordable housing, and the Boston Compact, a partnership between the city’s corporate community and public school system.

Mr. Grogan was graduated with a degree in American History from Williams College in 1972, and earned a Masters degree in Administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1979. He is a trustee of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; a director of the for-profit company, the Community Development Trust, which he helped found; a director of New Profit, Inc.; and a former trustee of Williams College. Mr. Grogan is the author, with Tony Proscio, of the book Comeback Cities: A Blueprint for Urban Neighborhood Revival, published in October 2000 by Westview Press, which Ron Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times has written is “arguably the most important book about cities in a generation.” He and his wife, Karen Sunnarborg, have three sons and live in Boston.

Mr. Grogan will receive a degree of Doctor of Community Service Honoris Causa.

This year’s honorary degree recipients are:

Maurice Finegold FAIA, Principal, Finegold Alexander + Associates, Boston
Mr. Finegold FAIA graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. cum laude and received his masters in architecture degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He holds a National Architectural Registration Certificate, and is registered in Massachusetts and 15 other states. Mr. Finegold has been responsible for a wide range of projects, including restoration and reuse of historic buildings, new structures and urban planning. He is the president of his firm, Finegold Alexander + Associates Inc. Previously a volunteer faculty member, he has been a member of the Boston Architectural College Board since June 1994, was elected vice chair in 1995, chair in 1999, and has chaired the Presidential Search Committee twice. As chair of the Nominating Committee from 1995-1999 he developed initiatives that led to a wider and broader representation on the Board.

Mr. Finegold also serves on the boards of the N.E. Holocaust Memorial Commission and is a past president of the Downtown North Association. He is an active member of the Society for College and University Planning, the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture, the AIA Committee on Justice, and the League of Historic American Theatres. He is a fellow of the Society for Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture in New York. He recently received the Edward S. Frey Award, for outstanding contributions to religious architecture. Mr. Finegold is also a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. At the Boston Society of Architects he chaired, among many positions, the Harleston Parker Medal Committee. He was a member of the Board of Registration of Architects. He also served on the Loeb Fellowship selection jury at Harvard for four years. He has written numerous articles regarding courthouse and synagogue design, served on design juries, panel discussions, and recently conducted a tour of the Congregation Agudas Achim, one of his synagogue projects, during the 2007 AIA Convention in San Antonio.

Mr. Finegold will receive a degree of Doctor of Humane Letters Honoris Causa.

Bernard J. Goba AIA, President, B. Goba & Associates, P.C., Medford, ‘69
Bernard J. Goba AIA has been President of B. Goba & Associates, PC, Architects of Medford since 1989. Prior to that he helped establish ESO, Inc., Architects, and served as its Treasurer for 18 years. In addition to his practice, he has served as an architectural consultant to the Medford Housing Authority and a former member of the design review team for the Main Streets Program in Hyde Park.

Mr. Goba, an Honorary Member of the BAC, received his Bachelor of Architecture Degree from the college in 1969, one year after he was awarded the BSA Traveling Scholarship. After graduation he joined the faculty and has taught, lectured, advised, employed and befriended our students. In 2002, Mr. Goba received The Distinguished Alumni Award from the BAC’s Alumni Association. As a committed BAC volunteer, Mr. Goba sat on the Board of Directors for many years, serving as its secretary, vice chair and chair during his long tenure on the Board. He then was elected to the Overseers in 2003 for a three-year term. Mr. Goba was an original member of the Cascieri Lectureship in the Humanities, and founded and directed the establishment of the Cascieri Lectureship endowment, both of which he chairs. He is past Treasurer of the Alumni Association Board, then served as President-Elect, and was elected President in 2006. Mr. Goba will serve a two-year term as President, during which time he will represent the BAC Alumni on the Board of Directors.

Mr. Goba will receive a degree of Doctor of Fine Arts Honoris Causa.

Elsie M. Hurst, Hon. AIA
Mrs. Hurst’s history with the BAC began in 1964 when she began serving on the Continuing Education Committee. She served as the Director of Administration for the Boston Architectural Center from 1966 to January 1990. She was one of the first two full-time professional staff hired by the BAC. During the time she worked at the BAC, Elsie was responsible for the administration of the BAC (including the Center and the School of Architecture). She managed the BAC physical plant, personnel, accounting and scholarship funds. She provided support to BAC staff, faculty, students and the Board of Directors as well as the Finance, House and Executive Committees and the Continuing Education and Interior Design Programs. Elsie did all of the fundraising for the BAC and successfully wrote State grants, perhaps most notably the grant for the Library expansion project that took place in the late 1970s.

In addition to the BAC Community, Elsie also served on the AIA Professional Development Committee (1977-1986), and co-edited its’ newsletter; she was a Charter member of Boston By Foot, and chaired the Presidents’ Task force of the Pro Arts Consortium. She served as a Trustee for the Franklin N. Flaschner Foundation, in support of continuing education for members of the Massachusetts Judicial system, during the 1980s. She also served Physicians for Social Responsibility in an administrative capacity before coming to the BAC. She was made an Honorary Member of the BAC in 1979 and of the AIA in 1986. She and her late husband established the Harold and Elsie M. Hurst A-1 Studio Prize at the BAC in 1983 to assist needy students prepare for portfolio reviews.

Mrs. Hurst will receive a degree of Doctor of Administration Honoris Causa.

Fred Noyes FAIA, Principal, Frederick Noyes • Architects, Boston
Mr. Noyes has also been affiliated with the firms of TRO, Graham Gund Architects, ADD Inc. and Cambridge Seven Associates. Mr. Noyes earned an A.B. from Harvard in Biology in 1966 and an M.Arch from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1972. As a BAC volunteer faculty member, he has taught at every level in the school, running studios and serving on the Thesis Committee. He was a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard College, and has been a juror at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, M.I.T., Wentworth Institute of Technology, and for the Rotch Traveling Scholarship. Mr. Noyes also taught biology at Miles College in 1968-1970, and at Wheelock College in 1991, and was a guest lecturer in biochemistry at the Harvard Extension School in 1986.

Mr. Noyes has been an active supporter of the BAC for over 32 years, holding many governance and committee positions. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 1988, served two years as a Director and two years as Vice Chair. From 1995-1999, he chaired the Board of Directors, and then served for the next four years in the ex-officio position of Ex-Chair. Mr. Noyes is a member of the Nominations and Membership Committee and of the BAC Celebrations Task Force.

Mr. Noyes will receive a degree of Doctor of Design Education Honoris Causa.

Peter Steffian FAIA, NCARB, Principal and Chairman, Steffian Bradley Architects, Boston
Mr. Steffian, FAIA, is a Principal and Chairman of Steffian Bradley Architects, a distinguished Boston design firm and longtime employer of BAC students. During his 40 years in practice, Peter has designed, planned and managed many building projects, establishing an important portfolio that includes many area landmarks. Peter has been an active volunteer supporter of the BAC for many years. As an Honorary Member, he was one of the charter group of Overseers elected in 2000, and continues to serve in this capacity. Peter is a past member of the Board of Directors, and currently serves as Chair of the External Affairs and Development Committee, overseeing the work of cultivating major gifts and soliciting Annual Fund donations.

Mr. Steffian has served as a Director and President of the Board of the Dublin School, Dublin, NH. A recognized leader in the design community, Mr. Steffian is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and has been Director and Treasurer of the Boston Society of Architects, President of AIA/Massachusetts, and an architect member of the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency Multifamily Advisory Council. Mr. Steffian has served on the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Architects since 1989 and has been a Director, officer and President of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), and recently completed a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the National Architecture Accrediting Board (NAAB). He is currently serving on the Joint Hospital Board of the Cambridge Health Alliance and as a Director of the Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, MA. Mr. Steffian will receive an Honorary Doctor of Public Service degree.  

Mr. Steffian will receive a degree of Doctor of Public Service Honoris Causa.