Associate Professor of Urban Planning Jerold Kayden has won the 1996 Graduate School of Design Student Forum Teaching Award, which recognizes the faculty member who has most significantly encouraged and inspired students through the art of teaching.

Kayden, who was selected from among 40 nominees for the award, holds degrees from Harvard in both city planning and law, and began teaching at the Graduate School of Design two years ago.

In presenting the award, the Student Forum praised Kayden as someone who "always takes the time to talk with students about his courses. He challenges students to look at ideas in new ways . . . and brings to the classroom a perspective that puts the reading and class assignments in a 'real world' context."

Kayden is a man who wears many hats.

In his legal work, Kayden has served as principal constitutional counsel to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and as senior consultant to the U.S. Agency for International Development to advise the governments of the former Soviet Union on land reform and privatization. In Ukraine, for example, he drafted new land laws and oversaw a program of land auctions throughout the country.

He is currently completing a book on New York City's privately owned public spaces and the ongoing effort to ensure that the spaces remain usable by the public.