Architect, Creative Problem Solver | Cheryl Morgan Design
Cheryl is a licensed architect and Emerita Professor of Architecture in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture of Auburn University. In thirty years of teaching, she worked with architectural programs at Georgia Institute of Technology, Oklahoma State, and California College of Arts and Crafts. For the last 12 years of her teaching career, she was the Director of Auburn’s Urban Studio in Birmingham, Alabama.
Under Cheryl’s leadership, the Urban Studio’s Small-Town Design Initiative Program worked with over 100 small towns and neighborhoods in Alabama.
Morgan practiced architecture and urban design in the San Francisco Bay Area. She worked with a number of firms including Environmental Planning and Research, Gensler, and the Gruzen Partnership. Before coming to Auburn in 1992 she was an associate with the Berkeley firm of ELS/Elbasani and Logan. Morgan’s professional practice now focuses on urban design, community revitalization and graphic design. She is also an experienced facilitator.
In 2011 she was presented with the Alabama Chapter of the American Planning Association’s Distinguished Leadership Award recognizing her as a “Friend of Planning.” In 2012 she received one of Auburn University’s highest awards for Achievement in Outreach and in 2017 the Alabama State Council on the Arts named Cheryl one of the recipients of their bi-annual Governor’s Award.
In 2018 she gave a TEDx talk at TEDx Birmingham titled “Place Matters.” She is also active in the AIA’s Communities by Design program and has participated in a dozen R/UDATs including DATs in Dublin, Ireland, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Freetown, Sierra Leone.
She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a recipient of Alabama’s 2023 Gold Medal presented by the Alabama AIA to all Alabama FAIAs.
Courses
Resilience by Design: Lessons from Climate-Impacted Communities
Thursday, April 23, 2026 | 12-1pm ET
Communities across the country are experiencing the impacts of a changing climate—from stronger storms to flooding, heat, and other climate-intensified hazards. Architects and landscape architects have an important role to play in helping communities prepare for these challenges and better recover after disasters.
This session will highlight the value of cross-disciplinary collaboration and community-driven design in building climate resilience. Last year, the Communities by Design (CxD) program hosted a project in Bakersville, North Carolina, after the small community was hit by Hurricane Helene. Architect Cheryl Morgan, based in Montgomery, Alabama, and landscape architect Aida Curtis, from Miami, Florida, will share lessons from their work on that project and other resilience-focused initiatives developed through the CxD program. Drawing from their experiences both within and beyond CxD, they will discuss how design professionals can work alongside local leaders, residents, and other experts to identify risks, strengthen community capacity, and implement strategies that help communities adapt to changing conditions.
Participants will gain practical insights into how collaborative design processes can support preparedness, recovery, and long-term resilience in communities facing increasing climate pressures.