Arnold Valdez, Co-Principal of Valdez & Associates, San Luis, Colorado, obtained his MArch at the University of New Mexico in 1992, receiving the John Gaw Meem Award for a thesis on the Hispano vernacular architecture in the Rio Culebra Basin. In 1999-2000 Valdez was the recipient of Loeb Fellowship of Advanced Environmental Studies at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. In 2008, Valdez was recognized as a George Pearl Fellow for his work and participation in the Historic Preservation and Regionalism Graduate Certificate Program at UNM School of Architecture & Planning. Currently, Valdez is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning where he teaches a seminar in Alternative Materials and Methods of Constructionand Cultural Landscape Planning.