Professor Emeritus Joseph Esherick was a renowned Bay Area architect who joined UC Berkeley in 1952 as a professor and later served as chair of its architecture department. Esherick received the highest honors of the American Institute of Architects: the Gold Medal and the California Council's Maybeck Award. His firm, Esherick Homsey Dodge & Davis (now EHDD Architecture), designed Wurster Hall and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, among many other buildings.

The Joseph Esherick Endowed Fund was established in 1997 in recognition of Esherick's exemplary role as an architect and educator. The fund is a continuance of the Walter T. Steilberg Fund established in 1983 that encouraged activities focused on the melding of technology and design.

Since 2004, the endowment has supported a visiting professor to the College of Environmental Design in architecture. The position is open only to architects with a distinguished background in practice and significant contributions to the making of buildings that integrate the influences of building technology with their design outcomes.

Esherick Chairs