Education
- Cornell University School of Architecture, 1976
Affiliations/Firms
- Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Keywords
New York, New York CityBiography
Early life and education
Jill Lerner is a graduate of Cornell University, earning her bachelor’s in architecture in 1976.
Career in Architecture
Lerner has led the design of numerous award-winning academic and institutional research facilities projects for public and private clients throughout the United States with over 30 years of design and management experience. As a Principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, she is responsible for all aspects of project management and design, and is the primary client contact during all phases—from initial programming and conceptual design through construction and project close-out.
Academic facilities projects completed under Lerner’s direction include the Chapman Graduate School of Business at Florida International University, Huntsman Hall at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, and a new multi-use facility for New York University’s School of Law. She oversaw the KPF design teams responsible for the new Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and the Newman Vertical Campus mixed-use academic complex at City University of New York’s Baruch College.
Lerner’s research and institutional work includes the new Advanced Science Research Center at the City University of New York’s City College; a science research center at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas; and the expansion of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, ranked as the number one children’s hospital in the United States by U.S. News and World Report.
She has also led master planning efforts for several academic and research facilities, including the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, the Walter B. Ford College for Creative Studies, and the Semel Institute and Center for Health Sciences at the University of California-Los Angeles.
Lerner was recently the only Architect on the Cornell University Board of Trustees (2004-2009), where she was active on the Building and Properties Committee. She was former Chair of the university’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning Alumni Advisory Council and is an active member of the President’s Council of Cornell Women. She also taught Professional Practice to architecture students in Cornell’s NYC program.
As the 2013 president of the AIA New York Chapter, Lerner incorporated a “Global City/Global Practice” theme for the year. A registered architect in several states, she also served on the board of the Center for Architecture Foundation.
Lerner is a leader in academic, medical, and research work at KPF, she speakly frequently on Global Practice, Women in Architecture, Academic Planning, Design, and Professional Leadership. She was a contributor and co-editor of Construction in Cities: Social, Environmental, Political, and Economic Concerns, which was published by CRC Press in 2001. She frequently speaks at conferences of the Society of College and University Planners (SCUP), including the “Business Schools: Setting the Pace” presentation in 1999. She also spoke at the Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE) in 2011. In 2001, she co-chaired the Memorial Process Committee after 9/11 for New York New Visions.
Major Buildings and Projects
Overseer, Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Ann Harbor, Michigan (2016)
Institutional Affiliations
President, AIA New York Chapter (2013)
Lecturer, Asia-Pacific Assocation for International Education (APAIE) (2011)
Lecturer, Society of College and University Planners (SCUP) conferences
Contributer & Co-editor Construction in Cities: Social, Environmental, Political, and Economic Concerns (2001)
Co-chair, Memorial Process Committee (2001)