Feeling like you don’t fit in. Feeling like you would not be good at anything. LTU changed all that for Tiffany Brown.
Sitting in the middle row in the middle of the auditorium at Northwestern High School in inner-city Detroit, one young woman heard all she needed to hear to change her life. While fellow students weren’t paying any attention to the Lawrence Technological University recruiter who visited that day, Brown heard about “built environments and the spaces around them.” 
Brown loved to draw and was drawn to the idea of becoming an animator for Disney. “Something about the [recruiter’s comments] piqued my interest. With the way that I grew up and the spaces that I experienced at school, I knew that they should have been better, more nurturing to my creative juices.
I wanted to learn more about that. I’d never been exposed to architecture before that time. And it played a huge part in the way my career unfolded.”
Brown graduated from LTU with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture in 2004, a Master of Architecture in 2007, and a Master of Business Administration in 2015.
LTU’s College of Architecture and Design will recognize Brown as its 28th Distinguished Architecture Alumni (DAA) Award recipient for her professional accomplishments, dedication to community service, and support of LTU’s College of Architecture and Design (CoAD).
Brown is the founder and executive director of 400 Forward | Girls Toward Architecture & Design, which launched in 2017 as a comprehensive program to introduce young girls to architecture, provide scholarships and wrap-around services to college students, and pay for study materials and licensing exams for African American women in architecture.
She also serves as executive director of the National Organization of Minority Architects, founded in 1971 to address the lack of minority representation in the profession of architecture. Previously, Brown worked as a project manager in SmithGroup’s Detroit office.
As DAAA selection committee member Tracy Sweeney said, “One of several things that set Tiffany apart from the rest of the nominees was the depth of her commitment to providing resources, mentorship, and exposure to young African American women following her into the profession. Many of us recognize the challenges and talk about the need to improve the pipeline, but I’m not aware of anyone who has taken more direct action towards specific, actionable solutions than Tiffany. Her personal professional achievements are worthy of recognition on their own, but her impact is amplified by the difference that she has made for these future architects and, by extension, for the entire profession.”
Brown is an associate member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Between 2017 and 2025, she has also served as an adjunct professor of architecture.
“Tiffany Brown is the epitome of an LTU architecture graduate,” said Lilian Crum, interim dean of CoAD. “She represents the very best of what it means to be an LTU architecture graduate. She’s a leader in her field, a powerful advocate for equity in architecture, and a role model whose work exemplifies the kind of impact our graduates can make on both the profession and society.”
Brown delivered a lecture titled “The Architecture of Change” and formally received the DAA Award on October 20, 2025, in the Lear Auditorium on the Lawrence Tech campus.
