Jeff Fugate

Associate Professor of Extension

Jeff Fugate is an Associate Professor of Extension at the University of Kentucky’s School of Architecture. As part of the University’s Land-Grant mission, Fugate co-leads the ongoing community outreach projects Studio Louisville and Studio Appalachia. Fugate also provides studio and classroom instruction in urbanism, design-research, and housing development.

A planner and urbanist by training, Fugate has a two-decade career in community and economic development prior to academia. With experience in both urban and rural settings, he has developed affordable housing projects, operationalized mission-based investment funds, and led the former Lexington Downtown Development Authority (LDDA) alongside Mayor Jim Gray. During his time at the LDDA, Fugate successfully instigated multiple urban development projects, including the Kate Orff-designed Town Branch Commons, Honor Award winner in Urban Design at the 2023 meeting of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

His current work applies community-engaged design solutions to contemporary social and climate-related challenges and has been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Research and Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Recently, Fugate secured seed funding to launch a Housing Solutions Lab.

Fugate has a B.A. from the University of Kentucky in Geography and graduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in City Planning and Architectural Studies.