Harvard, Higher Education, and the Architecture of Thinking

Gund Hall. Image: hapabapa

As I return to Boston for the AIA Conference on Architecture, I’m thinking about my time at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. It was a defining period in my life because it sharpened my approach to thinking, questioning, and communicating design.

Earning admission to Harvard was a moment of deep personal pride. The daughter of a professor and an English teacher, I grew up with a profound respect for education. To be accepted into Harvard felt like making Olympic trials—it wasn’t just a victory for me, but a win for my family and undergraduate professors who helped me get there.

So, what did I gain from a Harvard education?

I met global thinkers, makers, and researchers. I collaborated with students at the GSD and with students across Harvard’s schools and departments. I debated with people who saw the world not just for what it was, but for what it could yet be. I didn’t choose to attend Harvard to learn from a single academic star. I attended to immerse myself in a community that valued debate, research and exploration.

I came to the GSD to study architectural theory, but it was the questions around cities and public space that ultimately changed me. What makes a public space truly public? Who belongs? What does architecture have to do with cultivating inclusion? These were the conversations—fueled by inquisitive peers and probing professors—that helped me realize how context, access, and power influence design.

The very best professors prioritized inquiry above answers. They could hold space in an over-enrolled class and still make every student feel their voice mattered. That ability—to set up a conversation, then guide it with probing questions—is something I still carry with me.

Analysis, rigor, and research were the hallmarks of my education, and they’re the foundation of what we do at The Raygency. In every communications campaign, we ask: What is this really about? What are our assumptions? How can we elevate questions so people want to answer them?

While I’m proud of my time at Harvard, I don’t often discuss it. In a society increasingly skeptical of elite institutions, “When I was at Harvard…” can come off as smug or exclusionary. But when I say it, it’s not to impress. It’s to share what I wish more people had access to: an elite institution that values curiosity over conformity. A place that doesn’t tell you what to think, but teaches you how to think for yourself.

At a moment when higher education is under attack from some of the highest levels of government, it is more important than ever to say: I am a Harvard GSD graduate, and my Harvard education makes me a better person. I want more people to have that opportunity. And if that makes people uncomfortable, I’ll note: discomfort is a harbinger of innovation and growth.

I’ll close with a story. After graduating from the GSD, I returned to Chicago to job hunt. In the days before the internet was pervasive, I chose to hand-deliver my printed resume and portfolio. Having deposited these items at Tigerman McCurry,  I hopped on the El to return to my apartment. When I got home, my answering machine was blinking with a new message. It was a request to interview.

A week later, Stanley Tigerman—a whip-smart Yale grad—called me in for an interview. His first question? “So now that you’re a Harvard grad, you think you’re a big deal, right?” I shot back, “Well, I’ve never been called for an interview before I even made it home from dropping off my resume, so something’s working.”

Stanley laughed and hired me on the spot. An intellectual pugilist, he loved that I pushed back. My education gave me the foundation to keep pushing, and I will not stop.