Northwestern promotes Stephen Franklin to Executive Director of planning, development and construction

Northwestern University in Qatar has announced today the promotion of Stephen Franklin to executive director of planning, development and construction.

In announcing the promotion, Dr. Everette E. Dennis, dean and CEO of Northwestern University in Qatar said, “I am happy to announce this promotion in recognition of Stephen’s always important and growing role as our new home rises on its construction site.  Stephen is the person most responsible at NU-Q for getting us into the university’s forthcoming building,designed by renowned American architect Antoine Predock and scheduled for completion in 2014."

Stephen Franklin has served as director of facilities planning at Northwestern University in Qatar since 2008, where his highest priorities have been managing the university’s facilities in the CMU building and developing the NU-Q studio building at Education City. This November 2011, Franklin helped orchestrate the groundbreaking on NU-Q’s new building, which will have state-of-the-art multimedia studios, lecture halls, a theater, radio station, newsroom, library and exhibition space as well as the latest media technologies.

In his new position, Franklin will continue to manage and develop the university’s facilities, while working closely with Qatar Foundation’s vice president for Capital Projects and Facilities Management Eng. Saad Al Muhannadi, executive architects and the project management team among others.

An architect by trade, Franklin holds an M.A. degree in architecture and a B.S. in environmental design, both from Texas A & M University in the U.S. He began his career in facilities management at his alma mater as a geographical system information specialist and then as a project manager for some 1.8 million square feet of university facilities. After that he came to Qatar to head facilities planning and management for TAMU-Q where he represented the university’s interests in the design and construction of the Texas A& M building. Having completed that project in 2008, Stephen has since served at the neighboring Northwestern University in Qatar.