Donation renames Tulane University design center
Tulane City Center, the award-winning community design center of the Tulane School of Architecture, will be renamed the Albert Jr. and Tina Small City Center, thanks to a generous gift from alumnus Albert “Sonny” Small and his wife Tina.
“City Center is a perfect example of Tulane providing students the opportunity to engage in real-world issues,” Tulane President Mike Fitts said. “The Smalls’ generous gift is in addition to their founding donation, which made the center possible."
Small, a major real estate developer in the Washington, D.C. area, earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Tulane in 1979. He is a member of the Board of Tulane and the School of Architecture Dean’s Advisory Board. He formerly served as chair of the President’s Council, and along with his wife, Tina, served as a member of the Parents Council. The couple’s youngest son Marshall (Ben) Small recently graduated from the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane.
“We are deeply grateful to Sonny and Tina Small for their strong support for our work with the community through our nationally recognized design center,” said Kenneth Schwartz, dean of the Tulane School of Architecture. “Sonny Small has been an involved and insightful advisor to us from the earliest days after Hurricane Katrina through the growth of our engagement efforts in public interest design.”
The Small City Center works in partnership with community-based organizations across New Orleans, providing high-quality design assistance for groups traditionally underserved by the design profession. Among its more than 85 projects are the Grow Dat Youth Farm, the launch of the URBANbuild program, the Façade RENEW Program and Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative’s Palmyra Apartments.
