The papers of Robert M. Beckley measure 4.0 linear feet and date from 1958 to 2012. The bulk of materials are from 1978 to 2011. The collection is comprised of articles, drawings and reports, but little correspondence. It includes theoretical and applied material relating to urban design, created as a student in the University of Cincinnati and in the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, as dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and as private consultant. The papers contain five series: Biographical, Articles, Lectures and Writings, Applied Works, University of Michigan and Genesee Institute and Genesee County Land Bank.
Robert Mark Beckley was born in 1934 in Cleveland, Ohio and attended the University of Cincinnati (BS 1959) and the Harvard Graduate School of Design (MA 1961). He joined the University of Michigan faculty as an instructor in 1963 and was promoted to assistant professor in 1965. In 1968 Beckley joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he served as chair and acting dean in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, a program he helped establish. Beckley's professional projects in Milwaukee included assisting in the creation of two urban design centers, one in the African American community and one in the Latino community. He also worked on projects with the City of Milwaukee Economic Development Department investigating infill housing options and the Milwaukee Redevelopment Corporation (MRC) on downtown development.
In 1980, he founded the firm Beckley/Myers Architects with colleague Sherrill Myers. Under Beckley's direction the firm completed urban design plans for the Milwaukee River Walk, the Milwaukee Theater District and the Bellevue Downtown Park in Bellevue, Washington as well as numerous architectural commissions. Beckley left the firm in 1992 to devote full time to academic administration.
In 1987, Beckley returned to the University of Michigan as professor of architecture and urban planning and dean of the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Beckley stepped down as dean in 1997 after serving for ten years. He resumed his professional activity and participated in designs for a downtown park in Lake Oswego, Oregon, and the development of urban design guidelines for the State Street Redevelopment Project in Ann Arbor. From 2002 to 2007 he served as a planning consultant to the Genesee County Land Bank and as Executive Vice Chair of the Genesee Institute, an enterprise he helped establish with foundation support that provided planning, research and technical assistance to land banks. In 2009 he was asked to be Chairman of the Board of the Center for Community Progress, a merger of the Genesee Institute and the National Vacant Properties Campaign being funded by the Ford and C.S. Mott Foundations as well as others.
Beckley was made a Fellow of the Urban Design Institute in 1990 and the American Institute of Architects in 1985. His service included terms as President and Treasurer of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and an officer on the National Architectural Accrediting Board. He worked on research grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Department of Transportation. He also served as Urban Research Scientist while at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Beckley received recognition and awards for design, research and service from the NEA, Progressive Architecture Magazine, the American Institute of Architects, the City of Milwaukee and the Urban Land Institute.
Robert Beckley died in Ann Arbor on May 1, 2015.
