Activist & Gadfly. Retired CEO, Entrepreneur, Professor & Architect.
Based in New York City. Currently juggling words & action to fight for a just world, and against bias, hate, discrimination & disinformation in academia.
Introduction
Drisin’s career has spanned across both the private sector and higher education. He successfully led businesses while serving as a CEO and a President. As a Senior Academic Administrator, he helped universities and educational organizations achieve reputational excellence, financial stability and transformational growth. As a professor of architectural design and design theory he taught, and mentored students at Syracuse University, Harvard University, UTK, FIU, and a number of other universities.
Drisin’s academic career and character were ravaged after being falsely accused of sexual harassment by a graduate student. The claim against him was eventually dropped after witnesses came forward and the claim was revealed to have been baseless. Drisin sued both the university and the Miami New Times which published false and misleading claims in their libelous article. Drisin reached settlement agreements in both, however, the damage to his reputation from the false accusation was irreparable. Drisin’s experience turned him into a fierce activist against discriminatory stereotyping. His activism and philanthropy focus on fighting against discrimination & bias, and on ensuring fair procedures, due process, and fact-based decision making.
Drisin holds the Bachelor’s of Architecture degree (BArch) from Cornell University and the Master’s of Design in History & Theory degree (MDes) from Harvard University.
Drisin has been a life-long equestrian and sailor. His free-time is dedicated to riding and competing with his favorite horse Sottomarino, and cooking for his wife Karen and his three stepchildren.
Biography
Adam Drisin has had a wide-ranging career as an entrepreneur & CEO, as a professor & senior university administrator, and as an architect.
For almost three decades, Drisin served as a full-time professor of architecture at Harvard University, Syracuse University, the University of Tennessee, FIU and a number of other institutions. In addition to his teaching, Drisin served for twenty-five years as a senior university administrator, ending his university career as a Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. In addition to his university work, Drisin was asked to serve as the founding Co-Director of the design arts discipline for the National YoungArts Foundation and as such also served as Co-Chair of the Selection Committee for the US Commission on Presidential Scholars’ Designer Award which is bestowed by the President at the White House ceremony each year to a deserving young designer.
As a scholar of design, Drisin is known for his award-winning work as an urban designer and as a thinker and writer about the city. His writing and his design work have been published in leading journals and design magazines including, Abitare, Architectural Record, Progressive Architecture, 30.60.90, Domus, Parametro, Professione e Architetti, L’Espresso and the JAE: Journal of Architectural Education. He curated an extensive exhibition in Italy on the work of Ticinese architects Mario Campi and Franco Pessina and served as editor of the accompanying monograph. His own architectural and urban design work have been featured in the book Pensieri & Mattoni (Thoughts and Constructions) and were exhibited at the Venice Biennale and at museums in the United States, Europe and South America. Over the course of his academic career, Drisin has been awarded over eleven million dollars in grant funding and is the recipient of numerous national and international design awards. He is sought out as an architectural consultant on large-scale urban design projects and has worked with a broad range of public, governmental and private sector clients,
From 2004 to 2011, Drisin served on the Executive Boards of the Florida American Institute of Architects, and of the Miami chapter of the American Institute of Architects. From 2006 to 2011, Drisin was a member of both the Editorial Board, and the Design Review Board of The Journal of Architectural Education, the pre-eminent peer-reviewed journal of architectural education. He is a recipient of both the American Institute of Architects’ Education Leadership Award, and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture’s Academic Service Award.
Following his academic career, Drisin moved into the real estate development and construction sector and served as President of Daedalus Real Estate & Development and President/CEO of AAA Architectural Fabricators. In these roles he was recognized for his strategic acumen and innovation. Drisin was also recognized for his ability to unleash dramatic revenue growth, and substantial increases in market share, and for strategically positioning companies for merger and acquisition. His last project (as part of a consortium) involved the design, development, construction and eventual sale of what became the most expensive hyper-luxury estate spec home ever built and sold in Florida. The project - located in Palm Beach, was sold for one hundred and twenty two million dollars.
Drisin is recognized as a transformational and collaborative change-agent.
Letters on Bias, Antisemitism & Discrimination In Academia
Letter 01
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On October 27, 1967, a few months after the Six Day War, Martin Luther King Jr. had dinner with students from Harvard University. Professor Seymour Martin Lipset was present and recalled how one of the students criticized Zionists. King was incensed, saying “Don’t talk like that!” and continued, “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You’re talking anti-Semitism!”
Letter 02
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Letter 03
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Letter 04
Letter 05
Letter 06
Letter 07
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Recent Essays, Op-Ed’s, Musings & Scholarly Writing
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