Sharon E. Sutton

Sutton's focus is community-based participatory research and design with a special emphasis on low-income and minority youth and other disenfranchised populations. Her research has been funded by the Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, Tukwila School District, the University of Michigan, and University of Washington, among others.

She is a distinguished visiting professor at Parsons School of Design, an adjunct professor at Columbia University, and professor emerita at the University of Washington where she served on the faculty 1998 to 2016.

Sutton is author of When Ivory Towers Were Black: A Story about Race in America's Cities and Universities (2017);[7][8] Weaving a Tapestry of Resistance: The Places, Power and Poetry of a Sustainable Society (1996);[9] and Learning through the Built Environment (1985).[10] Additionally, she is author of numerous book chapters and journal articles, and is co-editor of The Paradox of Urban Space: Inequality and Transformation in Marginalized Communities.[11]

Sutton is also a noted printmaker and collagist, having studied graphic art.[12] Her work has been exhibited in and collected by galleries and museums, business enterprises, colleges, and universities, and is part of the Robert Blackburn Collection at the Library of Congress.

Dedicated to improving the living environments of disenfranchised populations, Sutton is currently ethnographic consultant to design studio instructors at Parsons School of Design. Most of Sutton's scholarship explores America's continuing struggle for racial justice.[13]

A registered architect, Sutton was the twelfth African American woman to be licensed to practice architecture (1976), the first to be promoted to full professor of architecture (1994), and the second to be elected a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects (1995). The ACSA (Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture) honored Sutton with the ACSA Distinguished Professor Award in 1995–96.[14] Sutton received the "Life Recognition Award" from the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1997 and the national American Institute of Architects Whitney M. Young, Jr., Award in 2011. In 2014 and 2017 respectively, she received the AIA Seattle Medal of Honor and the AIA New York Medal of Honor, the highest awards chapters can confer.

Sutton's career as an architect started after she was licensed by New York State as an architect.  She started practicing architecture and fine art in a 5th Avenue loft and also started teaching at Pratt Institute and later at Columbia University.

Sutton left Columbia University for the University of Cincinnati before she was recruited to the University of Michigan where she became the first African American woman to become a full professor of architecture, the 2nd to be elevated to fellowship in the AIA, and the 1st to serve as president of the National Architectural Accrediting Board, concluding by being inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.

Sutton eventually accepted a professorship position at the University of Washington where she was a principal investigator of Ford Foundation study civic engagement by low – income youths, this work earned her an award as the second African American woman to receive the AIA Whitney M. Young, Jr. award.

During this period, Sutton served on the Seattle Design Commission and chaired the Capitol Hill Design Review Board, public service that earned her the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Seattle Chapter Community Service award and Medal of Honor award.

• Sharon E. Sutton (2015).  Foreword; and Chapter eleven: reality-based learning in design studio education.  In Carla Jackson Bell (Ed.), Space Unveiled (pp. xvi–xvii and pp,102–112).  New York: Routledge Research in Architecture Series.
• Sharon E. Sutton (2011). Struggling for the right to housing: a critical analysis of the evolution of West Seattle's High Point. In The Paradox of Urban Space (pp. 29–51).
• Sharon E. Sutton and Susan P. Kemp (2011).  Introduction: place as marginality and possibility.  In The Paradox of Urban Space, pp. 1–9.
• Sharon E. Sutton and Susan P. Kemp (2011).  Place: a site of social and environmental inequity.  In The Paradox of Urban Space (pp. 13–28).
• Sharon E. Sutton and Susan P. Kemp (2011).  Place: a site of individual and collective transformation.  In The Paradox of Urban Space (pp. 113–134).
• Sharon E. Sutton and Susan P. Kemp (2011).  Conclusions: Standing shoulder-to- shoulder in a place-conscious society.  In The Paradox of Urban Space (pp. 259–265).
• Sharon E. Sutton (2008).  Engaging the public, seeking common ground; and Discovering the power of youth. In  Nancy B. Solomon (ed.), Architecture: Celebrating the Past, Designing the Future (pp. 64–77;and pp. 84).  New York: Visual Reference Inc.; Washington, DC: The American Institute of Architects.
• Sharon E. Sutton (2007).  A social justice perspective on youth and community development: theorizing the processes and outcomes of participation.  Children, Youth, and Environments, 17 (2), 616–645.  [Available online at: http://www.colorado. edu/journals/cye].
• Sharon E. Sutton and Susan P. Kemp (2006, September).  Integrated social science and design inquiry through interdisciplinary design charrettes: an approach to participatory community problem-solving.  American Journal of Community Psychology, 38 (1–2), 125–139.
• Sharon E. Sutton and Susan P. Kemp (2005).  Children's participation in constructing a social just public sphere.  In Mark Blades and Christopher Spencer (eds.), Children and Their Environments: Learning, Using, and Designing Spaces (pp. 256–276).  Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.