Wanda Bubriski (IES Abroad Vienna 1978-79) remains grateful to Bowdoin College for letting her spend junior year (in Vienna, the experience was transformative~ the architecture and art teachers Huber, DeCleva and Benesch, who taught her the value of experiential education.
As a Fulbright scholar in 1982-83, while researching the Social Housing Programs of Red Vienna, Wanda interned in the prints and drawings department of the Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien; in collaboration with Hans Bisanz, her work resulted in the 1985 exhibition and catalogue, Franz Cizek, Pionier der Kunsterziehnung (1865-1946), the pioneering children’s art educator. She earned her BA Magna cum Laude in Art History from Bowdoin College and then an MA in the History of Art and Architecture form Yale University.
For the past 20 years Wanda has shifted her interests to public education, and to political and environmental activism. As the founding Executive Director of the New York-based Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, she was instrumental in shaping the now 20-year-old national nonprofit’s mission, goals, and programs- such as Built by Women, recognizing the work of women shaping the built environment.