ElDante Winston, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Architecture
1092 Seaton Hall
920C N. Martin King Jr. Drive
Manhattan, KS 66506
T: (785) 532-5953
Dr. ElDante joined the faculty of the Department of Architecture at Kansas State University in the fall of 2022. He teaches undergraduate courses in architectural design and history, as well as graduate-level seminars in early modern architectural history. His foundational history lecture anchors the department’s history sequence, tracing the evolution of the built environment from the emergence of Homo sapiens to the rise of the Neo-Classical era. Through this sweeping exploration, he invites students to examine how design has continually reflected and shaped human societies, technologies, and cultural values.
ElDante’s current research reconsiders the conventional Eurocentric framing of the Renaissance, broadening global perspectives on the architectural innovation and cross-cultural exchanges that defined the period. His work critically examines the stylistic hierarchies and biases that have constrained appreciation of Renaissance architecture’s full complexity. Drawing from historical evidence of trade, diplomacy, and intellectual exchange among Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, his scholarship reveals a Renaissance shaped as much by conflict and collaboration as by aesthetic idealism. In doing so, he repositions the Renaissance as a deeply interconnected global moment that continues to influence design thinking today.
A licensed architect with over twenty years of professional experience, ElDante has worked across a wide range of project types—from commercial and institutional to residential design—bridging theory and practice in meaningful ways. His dual identity as practitioner and historian informs a teaching philosophy grounded in curiosity, rigor, and empathy, inspiring students to view architecture as both a cultural artifact and an instrument of progress.
ElDante earned his Ph.D. in the History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He also holds a Master of Arts in Architectural History from the University of Virginia, a Master of Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from The Ohio State University.
Before joining Kansas State University, he served as a Visiting Associate Teaching Professor at Northeastern University, where he taught design studios and a global history of architecture course.