Ms. Andraos intends to emphasize sustainability at Columbia, fusing it with what she called the design school’s progressive and experimental ...

Amale Andraos, a New York architect who was born in Beirut and has practiced in Montreal, Paris and Rotterdam, has been selected as the 13th dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation and Planning, the university announced Tuesday.

Ms. Andraos, 41, who has been teaching at the school since 2011, is the first woman to hold the post.

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Ms. Andraos, who succeeds Mark Wigley, is an accidental dean of sorts. She had been selected to the search committee for a new dean but was not on the short list of candidates. But after watching her work on the committee, Mr. Bollinger said, “we realized our next dean was sitting right in front of us.” (sic)