Chris Bell is a native Michigander but has long found his spiritual home in Oregon. Chris holds a M.Sc. in Historic Preservation from the University of Oregon and a B.A. from Williams College in Architectural Studies. Since 2006, Chris has worked at the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) — where he has worked in nearly every community in the state. Prior to ODOT Chris helped develop adaptive reuse projects with a commercial developer throughout New England and was a Fulbright Scholar in Finland studying the work of Eliel Saarinen. He resides in Eugene with his wife and two young boys and likes to recreate with his family on a bike, or skis, or in a lake, or while wearing two running shoes.
Larissa Rudnicki, a native Chicago-area Illinoisan, has enjoyed Oregon's built and natural environment for the last 15+ years. Before realizing she did not want to play in the dirt, she received her undergraduate degrees from Marquette University in Archaeology and Art History. Eventually trading in metal, “high-style” Chicago skyscrapers for wooden, leafy scrapers of the sky, Larissa received her graduate degree from the University of Oregon in Historic Preservation (Eugene, OR). Larissa Rudnicki is an architectural historian with the Oregon Department of Transportation, covering southern, central, and eastern Oregon - and is proud to represent the communities and people located in these areas and help amplify their voices and histories. Continuing her affiliation with the UO HP program, Larissa instructs courses about understanding and recognizing the many facets, faces, and themes of the built environment. She is an advocate for mobile homes, bowling alleys, roller skating rinks, mimetic architecture, and dingbat buildings, in addition to unraveling the true origin(s) of cribbage.
