Pizzetta helps design dreams with MSU scholarship In the nearly four decades Daria Pizzetta has been an architect, the field has changed tremendously. And today, she’s even more focused on the impact of her design while she challenges and inspires the students she recruits to her profession. Pizzetta has enjoyed a vibrant career as an architect and her Mississippi State University education provided her a firm foundation for a wealth of opportunities. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a principal for H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture in New York City, founded by renowned architect, Hugh Hardy. In 2017, H3 became the independent Performing Arts, Cultural and Academic Building Studio of Arquitectonica International Corporation, benefiting from the global presence, professional support, and administrative resources of Arquitectonica and its more than 450 staff worldwide. A career in New York City took Pizzetta a long way from her Mississippi roots. Growing up in Biloxi, she loved to draw and imagined following in the footsteps of her dad, Don Pizzetta. “My dad owned a general construction company on the Mississippi coast, and his family had been mechanical contractors,” Pizzetta said. “I always enjoyed watching him work and was intrigued with the build process because it
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FOUNDATIONS | Fall 2020
Daria Pizzetta cradles her father, Don, who attended MSU, and her late mother, Stephanie, for which she named an MSU scholarship.
yielded a tangible, lasting result.” The young Pizzetta’s ambition was to eventually lead her father’s company; however, he strongly encouraged her to pursue a career he felt was more suited for her. He had studied mechanical engineering at MSU and thought his daughter should pursue architecture there. Pizzetta recalls MSU had just begun its architecture program at the time she enrolled. She would graduate with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1983 in a class of 28 students, among them, three other women. Since then, her passion for her craft has grown, and she encourages future architects through the gift of scholarship. “I compete every day with architects who attended the most prestigious schools—Harvard, MIT, and Yale—and I believe MSU measures up to them,” said Pizzetta. “I enjoy helping students become architects, and my endowed scholarship financially helps some of them achieve their
