Heather Roberge, principal of Los Angeles–based architecture firm Murmur, has been appointed the new chair for the University of California, Los Angeles Department of Architecture and Urban Design (AUD).

Prior to Roberge’s appointment, Los Angeles architect Neil Denari had been interim chair. Denari’s appointment came in 2016 after former chair Hitoshi Abe decided to step down. Roberge’s appointment is not the only recent change at UCLA—Brett Steele was named as the new dean of the university’s School of Arts and Architecture late 2016.

Roberge has been a faculty member at AUD since 2002 and has taught widely at schools such as Washington University in St. Louis, Ohio State University, the Pratt Institute, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, among others. According to Murmur’s website, Roberge’s academic work “investigates the spatial, structural, and atmospheric potential of digital technologies on the theory and practice of building.” Roberge has helmed Murmur since 2008. The firm was also named an Emerging Voices awardee in 2016 by the Architectural League of New York. Murmur’s 2015 exhibition, En Pointe, won an AIA|LA Design Merit award in 2015, as well. Roberge worked as a partner at the design practice Gnuform prior to starting Murmur.

Roberge assumes chairpersonship as wider shake-ups have infused new waves of leadership at several other Los Angeles area architecture schools. Milton Curry was recently appointed as the new dean of the Southern California University School of Architecture while Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter was named new dean of the Woodbury School of Architecture earlier this year, for example.