Dan Cook appointed University architect and vice president for facilities design and operations
The University of Notre Dame has appointed Dan Cook as its new University architect and vice president for facilities design and operations.
A 1996 Notre Dame alumnus, Cook succeeds Doug Marsh, who served as the inaugural University architect and will continue as a key leader of the facilities design and operations team through May.
Cook joined Notre Dame on Jan. 27 from the University of Texas at Austin, where he had served as the executive director of planning, design and construction since 2021.
“Dan is an accomplished architect and visionary leader who has a deep connection to Notre Dame, making him ideally suited for this position,” University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C.., said. “I am confident he will be an excellent steward of our campus, ensuring our natural environment and facilities contribute in meaningful ways to our mission as a global Catholic research university. I look forward to working closely with him in the years to come.”
As vice president and University architect, Cook will lead the planning, design and construction of new campus facilities, as well as the renovation, maintenance, utilities, landscape services and facilities information for more than 200 buildings and 1,000 acres of campus grounds. He will continue to further Notre Dame’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 in partnership with Assistant Vice President for Utilities and Maintenance Paul Kempf.
“I am thrilled to welcome Dan Cook back to Our Lady’s University. His leadership, architectural experience, humility and passion for our mission are tremendous assets for Notre Dame,” Executive Vice President Shannon Cullinan said. “Building upon the tradition of excellence established by Doug Marsh, under Dan’s leadership our Facilities Design and Operations Division will reach new heights in innovation, collaboration with campus partners, and efficiency.”
At the University of Texas, Cook led a team of 200 professionals responsible for planning, design, construction, project management, contracting and construction operations for more than 20 million square feet of facilities.
Prior to his role at Texas, he completed a 24-year career in the U.S. Navy, with deployments in Europe, Africa, Cuba and the Middle East. Cook held multiple positions of executive leadership with responsibility for planning, design, construction, utility systems operations, facility services, maintenance and energy solutions. During his last Naval assignment as commanding officer for a construction battalion, Cook guided a team of 1,200 personnel based on an 11-acre campus in San Diego.
Cook earned a bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame’s School of Architecture and a Master of Science in construction engineering and management from Purdue University. He holds a license to practice architecture in Indiana and is the recipient of the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and numerous other personal awards and accolades.
Cook is married to Emily Husted Cook, a Notre Dame alumna. Together, they are the parents of seven children, four of whom have attended Notre Dame. He is originally from Oklahoma City.
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.
