Eliana Abu-Hamdi, PhD, is currently the Vice Provost for Research and Strategic Partnerships at Pratt Insitute.
Prior to Pratt, Eliana served as the Associate Dean for Research at the Syracuse University School of Architecture, mentoring faculty and helping to secure grant funding in support of their research. Importantly, Eliana approaches her work with a strong commitment to equity and inclusion; at Syracuse, she was Director of the School’s DEIA Council, and served as co-Chair of the University Committee for Diversity and Inclusion, and was a member of the university-wide Academic Leadership for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility.
Concurrent with her administrative appointment at Syracuse, she was Associate Professor of Architecture, with tenure. An urbanist, designer, historian, and Middle Eastern/Global South scholar, Eliana’s work has been published in numerous journals and edited volumes. Her research on refugee migration, architecture and development in Jordan contributes to the debates on the political economy of urbanism in developing cities, thereby establishing a connection between their geopolitical histories and urban present. Her next publication, a monograph entitled Unplanning the City , is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. She earned her PhD and MS in Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, with an emphasis in Global Metropolitan Studies, earned a Master of Architecture as well, and is an experienced practitioner and studio instructor who has taught at Pratt, Boston Architectural College, UC Berkeley, and NewSchool of Architecture and Design. She has also taught at Hunter College, in the Political Science department.
Outside of Pratt she served on Board of Directors of the Society of Architectural Historians (2020-2024) and is the SAH Affiliate Group Liaison. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Society of American Regional and Planning History and is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Islamic Architecture. She remains the Acting Manager for the Global Architectural History Teaching Collaborative (GAHTC) at MIT.
EDUCATION
B.A. Architecture, University of California at Berkeley
MArch Newschool of Architecture
M.S. Architectural History, University of California at Berkeley
Ph.D. Architecture, University of California at Berkeley