Dr. Robert Meden

Academic Credentials

B.Arch., M.Arch., Kent State University
D.Arch., The Catholic University of America
NCIDQ certified; NCARB certified; AIA, IDEC

Bio

A Marymount faculty member since 1985, Dr. Robert Meden has returned to full-time teaching after serving as the Associate Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences/School of Design, Arts, and Humanities for five and a half years and two stints (sixteen years) as chair of the Department of Interior Design.

He has received national recognition for work done with students, including an ASID Scalamandre Historic Preservation Award, two ASID Dora Brahms Awards, along with two Charles E. Peterson Prize selections. He has also had the opportunity to make presentations and run workshops at several ASID National Conferences, Illuminating Engineering Society Annual Conventions and IDEC Annual Conferences. Dr. Meden has also received funding from The National Endowment for the Arts, The Cleveland Foundation, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation for various preservation projects.

Dr. Meden as co-authored a chapter on preservation in the ASID Professional Practice Manual, served as editor and illustrator for a National Park Service publication, Access to Historic Buildings for the Disabled, and provided an editorial for Designers West. He has also submitted over 110 book reviews for Choice Magazine.

Dr. Meden was chair of ASID’s national Historic Preservation Committee. He served two terms as the national Treasurer for IDEC and IDEC’s Foundation. And after spending 10 years on accreditation visits for the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (formerly FIDER), was elevated to their Board of Trustees.

He has worked for the State Historic Preservation Office in Albany, NY; the National Park Service’s Historic American Engineering Record, in Morgantown, WV, and Tarrytown, NY; and their Technical Preservation Services, in Washington, DC. While in Indiana, he worked on the Hoosier Dome, and the transformation of the Union Station in Indianapolis. Here in the nation’s capital, he has done lighting design and interior design work for the National Security Agency in the White House, the Old Executive Office Building, and the Treasury Building. He currently is serving as a member on the Arlington County Historic Architectural Landmarks Review Board.

Also while at Marymount, Dr. Meden has received the Robert A. Draghi Award in 2008, honoring outstanding teaching and aadhering to the school motto, “”Students First””. He also was the coach of the Women’s Varsity Soccer team for eleven years, leading them to a national ranking (19th) in 1988, with one All-American, and a NCAA record, which led to the whole-team’s induction to the MU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018. He also received Coach of the Year in 2000.

Teaching Areas

• Building Technology
• Lighting
• Historic Preservation
• Intro to ID
• various studios

Research Interests

Lighting and Historic Preservation

Publications

(co-author, chapter) with Josette Rabun, ” Historic Preservation/Rehabilitation”, ASID Professional Practice Manual, Whitney Library of Design”