Mónica Ponce de León elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters

Mónica Ponce de León, the George Dutton ‘27 Professor in Architecture and former dean of the School of Architecture, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, whose members represent “the highest standards of artistic achievement in this country,” the academy said in its announcement.  

Founded in 1898, the academy is an honor society of the country’s leading architects, artists, composers and writers. Its 300 members are elected for life.

Ponce de León, who joined the Princeton faculty in 2016, is an award-winning architect and educator and founding principal of MPdL Studio. Known as a pioneer in the incorporation of robotic fabrication in architecture, she has been recognized throughout her career as an innovator in the field of architecture and within higher education.

During her tenure as dean from 2016 to 2025, she led the School of Architecture through a period of transformation and growth, in areas ranging from the expansion of undergraduate and graduate programs to innovative teaching and learning methods, and new conferences and exhibitions to elevate faculty and student work to new audiences.

Her many honors and awards include the Cooper Hewitt/Smithsonian National Design Award in Architecture, the Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the USA Target Fellowship in Architecture and Design from United States Artists, the Harleston Parker Medal from the Boston Society for Architecture, several Progressive Architecture Awards, and Teaching Award of Excellence from the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, among others.

Ponce de León joins several other Princeton professors who are members of the Academy of Arts and Letters, including:

• Elizabeth Diller, professor of architecture;
• Jeffrey Eugenides, professor of creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts;
• Yiyun Li, the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities and professor of creative writing;
• Steven Mackey, the William Shubael Conant Professor of Music;
• John McPhee, senior fellow in journalism;
• Paul Muldoon, the Howard G.B. Clark ’21 University Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus, and professor of creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts, emeritus; and
• Joyce Carol Oates, the Roger S. Berlind ’52 Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus, and professor of creative writing, emeritus.

Ponce de León will be inducted into the academy during its annual ceremony in May, held in New York City.