Scholar since
2021

Scholarship received
2021 Jason Pettigrew Memorial ARE Scholarship

Current occupation
Michigan Mellon Design Fellow in Egalitarianism and the Metropolis at Taubman College

Hometown
Detroit, MI

Torri Smith serves as both the Michigan Mellon Design Fellow in Egalitarianism and the Metropolis and Economic Development & Design Manager for East Jefferson Development Corporation. Through her fellowship, Smith currently conducts research related to her interests at the intersection of environmental justice, urban activism, and design while simultaneously exploring the ways in which ecological regeneration can address systemic racial inequity, tangentially sharing this passion by teaching high schoolers from Detroit Public Schools through ArcPrep. Additionally, Smith’s role at the East Jefferson Development Corporation is to uplift, empower and promote inclusive development and growth for the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood and its community members.

This past year, Smith was recently awarded the Burton L. Kampner Memorial Award for the most outstanding thesis by Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, as well as a Program Distinction Award. Smith was co-creator of Design Justice Actions, co-lead of the Taubman College Community Engagement Working Group, an executive board member of NOMAS, and a contributor to Design Futures Forum, as the Economic Development & Design Manager. Additionally, Smith has worked as an architectural designer at ROSSETTI, volunteered teaching art and architecture at Denby High School, and launched an independent art and design practice in Detroit.