J Cohen, Assistant Dean for Facilities, Space Resource Planning and Capital Projects

As assistant dean, J Cohen is responsible for the oversight, planning and strategy of the College’s facilities operations, space resources and capital projects. The facilities portfolio includes 55 buildings and over 3 million square foot of space, including University and leased space in several locations.

Cohen has had an extensive career in the private sector consulting to design architects and institutions, and in the public sector, directing one of the largest design and construction management units in the New York City Department of Design + Construction. As director of the Libraries Program Unit, he was responsible for a capital project portfolio for New York City’s three public library systems, which includes over 200 library facilities. The program was responsible for the delivery of capital projects that ranged in scope from building system upgrades to major capital improvements, additions and new construction. Numerous projects involved work within landmarked buildings as well as work coordinated with continuous occupancy during construction.

Prior to coming to UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, Cohen was senior project manager and staff engineer for the Office of Project Management at Duke University’s Facilities Management Department. In that position, he was responsible for planning and delivering new construction and renovation projects in the range of $1 million to $120 million, from early feasibility studies to design, construction and end user move-in.

In addition to consulting as a professional engineer, Cohen has been a visiting lecturer and guest critic for the Department of Architecture at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., and a guest critic for the Graduate Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.

Cohen received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering with a minor in Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Structural Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

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