Dr. Hamid Shirvani

Dr. Hamid Shirvani is President of the California State University, Stanislaus and an internationally renowned scholar of architecture and urban design and planning.  He has published extensively.  His books have been used as major texts in classrooms throughout the United States and abroad.  In particular, The Urban Design Process, which has been translated into four languages, is a major classic on the subject.  He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from Princeton University, an M.L.A. from Harvard University, and a M.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and is a graduate of the Polytechnic of Central London.

Prior to assuming this position, he served as Provost and Executive Vice President at Chapman University; Vice President for Graduate Studies and Research at Queens College of the City University of New York; Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell; and Dean of the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado at Denver.  In addition, he has served on the faculties of the State University of New York at Syracuse and the Pennsylvania State University.  

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences, Recipient of Special Commendation by the American Institute of Architects (2003) for his contributions in the fields of architecture and urban design, and Recipient of the Seikyo Culture Award of Japan (1999).  In 2007 and again in 2009, the statewide student government body of the 23-campus California State University system recognized Dr. Shirvani as “President of the Year.”  Most recently, Rotary International named him the Paul Harris Fellow for his meritous public service.