In memoriam: Robert L. Amico, former School of Architecture chairman and professor
Robert L. Amico, professor emeritus and longtime chairman of the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture, died on Tuesday (July 26). He was 84.
“Throughout this teaching career, Bob expanded the intellectual boundaries for his students by encouraging them to look for multiple solutions with different philosophical premises,” Michael Lykoudis, the former Francis and Kathleen Rooney Dean of Architecture, said. “His deep commitment to his students showed in the many hours he spent with them in studio to bring their designs to fruition. A dedicated colleague and friend, he will very much be missed.”
Trained in Beaux-Arts and Modern design approaches, he was appointed to the School of Architecture by Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., in 1978. During his 11 years in leadership, Amico led the expansion and development of the architecture faculty and facilities, strengthened the school’s connections to Rome and Chicago, and secured the first full-term National Architecture Accrediting Board accreditation. He became professor emeritus in 2010, concluding 11 years as chairman and 32 years as professor.
In 2011, he established Amico LLC, Art and Design. Over the years, he was involved in numerous community service projects and served on several boards of directors.
Prior to his work at Notre Dame, Amico spent 12 years in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, his alma mater, where he was a professor, faculty research fellow and chairman of architecture design. He was also an alumnus from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Amico is survived by three of his children and six grandchildren. A memorial Mass will be held at 9:30 a.m. Friday (July 29) at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame.
Latest Faculty & Staff
- Faculty receive prestigious early career awards from National Science FoundationDuring the 2024-25 academic year, four researchers in the University of Notre Dame’s Colleges of Engineering and Science received early-career awards from the National Science Foundation.
- In new research, Roy Scranton explores climate change and the limits of human progressIn his most recent book, “Impasse: Climate Change and the Limits of Progress,” Scranton, an associate professor of English, defines the impasse he sees as “not only political and institutional, but cognitive, existential and narrative” and asserts that the only path forward is through embracing what he terms ethical pessimism. “A lot of people confuse pessimism with nihilism, apathy and despair,” Scranton said. “But pessimism is actually about recognizing our limits, letting go of unrealistic goals, finding solidarity in the fact of human suffering and doing what you can now, not in some utopian future.
- Joule Bergerson, energy technology assessment expert, named new director of ND EnergyND Energy faculty director Joule…
- In memoriam: Alasdair MacIntyre, the Rev. John A. O’Brien senior research professor of philosophy emeritusAlasdair MacIntyre, the Rev. John A. O’Brien senior research professor of philosophy emeritus and a permanent senior distinguished research fellow at the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, died on May 21, 2025. He was 96.
- Santiago Schnell, dean of Notre Dame’s College of Science, appointed as provost of DartmouthSantiago Schnell, the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame, has accepted an appointment as provost at Dartmouth College. He will depart Notre Dame at the end of June and begin his new role in July.
- Notre Dame’s Fightin’ Irish Battalion receives Department of Defense award as nation’s top Army ROTC programThe United States Department of Defense honored the University of Notre Dame’s Army ROTC Fightin’ Irish Battalion as the nation’s top Army collegiate program for the 2023-24 academic year. This will be the first time the unit has received the department’s Educational Institution Partnership Excellence Award, which recognizes the program’s achievements in recruiting, educating, training and commissioning leaders of character to be the next generation of military officers.
