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A College of Architecture and Design must, almost by definition, be concerned with the quality of urban life and the health and vitality of the urban fabric. Given our location, this College has not always been able to provide students with meaningful urban-based experiences. Brian Collins, President of the Kansas City, Missouri, Economic Development Corporation, a unique private/public partnership for community development, has helped change all of this for the College. Through his tireless efforts and support, Brian helped the College to secure an important niche in the Kansas City community. Our location in this great city provides students and faculty in the College with the very proximity to urban life and issues we have historically lacked.

As a professional planner, educated at the Universities of Nebraska and Cincinnati, Brian Collins understood how vital it was for the College to have an urban base. He generously provided us with our very first office and secretarial support when first we moved to Kansas City. And all of this without cost, a not unimportant fact for fiscally constrained institutions like ours! He has acted as an advisor, confidante, and supporter of our efforts to broaden our mission and presence in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. Through his leadership, Kansas City now has a Planning Center. Its tenants include, among others, the Downtown Council, the Civic Council, the Economic Development Corporation and the Regents Center for Architectural Studies--K-State's urban base on Main Street. The Center provides learning and studio options for K-State architecture and design students, a meeting place for all those in the community concerned with design and planning issues, a center for continuing education for the professions we seek to serve, and a point of contact in the Kansas City community for the College and University. Brian helped to make all of this possible and it is surely true that without his vision, commitment and support, the College of Architecture and Design of Kansas State University would not be flourishing in Kansas City.

Brian's "service" to the College can be measured in other ways as well. Most importantly, however, he is the embodiment of the "ideas man," the urban visionary, the activist who understands that great cities need great colleges of architecture and design. He has opened doors for us and in so doing has helped us to achieve things few would have thought possible.