Christopher Diehl, AIA
assistant professor
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Christopher Diehl is the former director of the CUDC. Previously, he was Director of Design for URS Cleveland, where he was responsible for several award winning Projects including Tri-C’s Corporate College East, Simmons Hall at
University of Akron and the historic renovation of the Idea Center at Playhouse Square, Cleveland. He is an active, creative force in the Cleveland cultural community where he has authored projects on public art and been a strong voice supporting urban revitalization. Diehl has taught architecture at the Pennsylvania State University, Ohio State University and Miami University. He received his Master’s degree in Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard
University (’88) and a Bachelor’s degree from Miami University.

Patrick Hyland received his M.Arch from Yale University and returned to Cleveland to work with Westlake, Reed, Leskosky. He is teaches a fifth-year architecture studio in the masters program. The studio reflects his research interests in distinctive, transitional American spatial processes and their contrast to traditional concepts of enclosed or composed urban spatiality.

David Jurca
urban designer
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David Jurca studied at CUDC and received his M.Arch. from Kent State. As a member of the staff, he has been involved in a wide range of projects, and he is particularly interested in the CUDC's Shrinking Cities initative. David is an active volunteer for a number of causes in Cleveland.

Katie McNulty-Taylor
business manager
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While she completes her business degree at Kent State, Katie brings her substantial experience with architectural offices to her work at the CUDC.

Steve Rugare
public programs, adjunct assistant professor
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Steve Rugare is responsible for planning and producing the CUDC’s communications, public events and research activities. He is editor of the CUDC Quarterly and of this web site. As time permits he also contributes to research and graphic design for the UDC’s technical service projects. Steve has been teaching architectural and urban history at the College of Architecture and Environmental Design since 1993, and he is currently responsible for a survey course at the Kent Campus and the graduate seminar “Forces that Shape Cities” at the CUDC. He has also taught at Oberlin College and the University of California at Santa Cruz. He received his bachelors in political philosophy from Michigan State University and an MA from the History of Consciousness Program at UC Santa Cruz. He has presented scholarly work at meetings of the College Art Association, the International Planning History Society and Society for American Regional and City Planning History. Steve is a Greater Cleveland native and now resides in Cleveland’s Edgewater neighborhood.

Maurizio Sabini teaches studio courses in architectural and urban design, as well as seminars in architectural theory. He has written extensively on theoretical issues in twentieth-century architecture, particularly on the work of Louis I. Kahn. He is also the Italian translator of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown's Learning from Las Vegas. As a practitioner, he has been involved in a wide range of projects in Italy, Kenya and Austria. Since coming to Kent State, he has supervised a number of service learning projects through the CUDC, including the Orchard School Playground Conversion and Fairview Park Charrette in Cleveland and charrettes for Poland and Chagrin Falls. Maurizio received his undergraduate degree and doctorate from the Istituto Unversitario di Architettura di Venezia and an M.Arch. from SUNY Buffalo.

Terry Schwarz, AICP
interim director
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Schwarz was appointed the interim director of the CUDC in January, 2010. Previously, she served as senior planner and her projects include neighborhood and campus planning, commercial and residential design guidelines, stormwater management and green infrastructure strategies. She recently prepared the Re-Imagining a More Sustainable Cleveland plan in collaboration with Neighborhood Progress, Inc. and the Cleveland City Planning Commission. Terry launched the CUDC's Shrinking Cities Institute in 2005 in an effort to understand and address the implications of population decline and large-scale urban vacancy in Northeast Ohio. In 2009, Terry received the Cleveland Arts Prize for Design. She teaches in the graduate design curriculum. She has a Bachelor's degree in English from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a Master's degree in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University.

Gauri Torgalkar
urban designer
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Gauri Torgalkar is a native of India who received her her M.Arch. degree from Kent State University in 2003. Her thesis research focused on environments of healing, and her project for permanent, supportive housing for the homeless was developed in conjunction with a network of Cleveland community activists. Gauri first started working at the UDC as a student intern before becoming a full time employee. She has worked on numerous projects, including the CSU Materplan, the Bay Village Revitalization Project and the Broadway Neighborhood Pedestrian/Cyclist Map. Gauri also participates in the CUDC curriculum, teaching a course in graphic techniques for urban design and working with the students in the Cleveland State University "Intro to Urban Design" course. Gauri is also interested in public art projects, and she recently completed designs for banners for Shaker Town Center.

Paul A. Vernon, Architect
urban designer
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Paul Vernon is a registered architect and graduate of Kent. He brings additional resources to the UDC through his completed coursework at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. Since coming to the UDC in 2001, Paul has supervised numerous projects throughout the region, including the Madison Avenue and Detroit Avenue East corridor studies in Cleveland, as well as projects for suburbs and villages such as Richfield and Hubbard. Paul participates in the CUDC studio curriculum as an instructor and critic. Paul has particular expertise in the design of child care facilities and other institutional environments. He will be presenting the CUDC's research on supportive environments for the mentally ill at a national meeting of care providors in Boston in 2008. Paul has diverse experience in the field of community development, serving on multiple design review committees and working with a number of community organizations.