Alumni at a Glance: Emily Howard ʼ94

Emily Howard ʼ94 designs many premier destinations, including the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, the Space Shuttle Atlantis Museum at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and Discovery Cove also in Florida. She’s an architect and the vice president of PGAV Destinations.

Emily, an art and art history major, praises her colleagues.

“I work with and lead a talented group of folks who design amazing destinations across the globe and I love what I do,” she said.

Who can blame her? She helps create memories for all the visitors who explore her zoos, aquariums, and museums across the country.

After graduating from Cornell College, Emily attended graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis (where she still lives) and received her master of architecture degree. She credits One Course At A Time for inspiring curiosity and critical thinking.

“It helped me learn in a way that allowed me to immerse myself in a subject,” she said. “Since college, I find that I love to explore many diverse topics and am able to decipher ideas and connections quickly and put them to use.”

Her favorite professor at Cornell was Doug Hanson.

“He was the type of person who could see your potential and help you achieve it with subtle guidance and deep thinking,” she said.

Emily treasures the many friends she made while at Cornell and still keeps in touch with them. She has an especially vivid memory of rural Iowa.  

“One of my fondest memories, that I still think about today, is walking around campus at night and enjoying the brilliant nighttime sky,” Emily said. “Because we were so rural, the stars felt like a blanket over you and it allowed me to stop for a moment, take it all in, and somehow be refreshed by the beauty of it all.”

She has some advice for students.

“You can make strong personal connections with the professors and your classmates,” she said. “It has to do with One Course At A Time but more so it has to do with the caring and nurturing nature that is instilled in everyone who encounters Cornell.”