MARTHA THORNE is dean of IE School of Architecture and Design, one of five schools at an innovative, private university in Madrid and Segovia, Spain. She is also executive director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, a position she has held since 2005. In the academic field, she is committed to education that fosters critical thinking, expands tradition roles and career paths, and connects disciplines in order to enhance understanding of the contexts for architecture and design. In terms of research her interests reside in the dynamics of cities and the interrelation of the built, natural, and digital environments.

From 1996 to 2005, she worked as a curator at the Department of Architecture at The Art Institute of Chicago. In her curatorial role, she undertook research, exhibition production and collection development.

She is the author or co-author of several books and has written numerous articles for specialized journals, newspapers, and encyclopedias. She was a member of the jury for the international prize, ArcVision-Women and Architecture Award and the board of the International Archive of Women in Architecture.

Thorne holds a Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Affairs from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She undertook additional studies at the London School of Economics.