Emily Bills
Part-time Assistant Professor
Email
billse@newschool.edu
Office Location
A - 66 West 12th Street
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Profile
Emily Bills received her PhD in the history of architecture and urbanism from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. She has developed and taught courses in the The New School's distance learning program since moving to Los Angeles in 2006. Her students log in to class from all around the world, from New York to Mexico City to Hong Kong. In addition to teaching the history of architecture and urban planning, Emily is the Managing Director of the Julius Shulman Institute in Los Angeles, an organization dedicated to an appreciation and understanding of photography of the built environment. Recent curatorial projects include Pedro E. Guerrero: Photographs of Modern Life, Catherine Opie: In & Around L.A., and Richard Barnes: Unnatural spaces. She writes on the history of photography, urban history, and modern architecture.
Recent Publications
Recent publications include essays in books Michigan Modern: Design That Shaped America; Women and Things: Gendered Material Practices, 1750-1950; Engagement Party, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and Visual Merchandising: The Art of Selling.
Research Interests
European and American urban and architectural history, telecommunications, environmental studies, and photographic representation of space.
Awards And Honors
Her work on telephone infrastructure and the development of Los Angeles received a Graham Foundation Carty Manny Award Citation of Special Recognition. She’s also received fellowship and grant support from the Smithsonian, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Huntington Library, and the Society of Architectural Historians. Emily also received a Faculty Development Award at The New School for online curriculum development.