Frank E. Dittenhafer II, FAIA, LEED AP, has been a practicing architect for more than twenty-five years and was one of the founders of Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects in 1985.

As president of Murphy & Dittenhafer, he is responsible for the design and management of the firm’s projects focused on adaptive reuse, historic preservation, higher education, housing, faith-based structures, interiors and planning.

Under Frank’s leadership, the firm’s design excellence has been recognized every year since 1993 by American Institute of Architects chapters in Pennsylvania and Maryland and includes over 65 AIA design awards in addition to numerous craftsmanship and historic preservation citations. Notable award-winning projects designed by Dittenhafer from Murphy & Dittenhafer’s offices on West Market Street have included Brooks Robinson Plaza at Sovereign bank Stadium, the Susan P. Byrnes Health Education Center, the Market Street Parking Garage, CODO 241, CODO 28, Penn State York’s Pullo Family Performing Arts Center and Lee R. Glatfelter Library, and the Penn State York Swenson Engineering Center.

The firm’s Maryland projects include the University of Baltimore Student Center, St. Paul Place Parking Garage, Boonsboro Public Library, The Johns Hopkins University’s Milton S. Eisenhower Library, the Brick Street Café at Towson University and Loyola University’s Middle Courtyard Housing.

After receiving a B. S. in Architecture from The Pennsylvania State University, Mr. Dittenhafer attended the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a Master of Architecture. While studying at Penn, he received the E. Lewis Dales Traveling Fellowship and the Arthur Spayd Brooke Bronze Medal for Design. Dittenhafer was inducted into the AIA College of Fellows in 2007 in San Antonio at an investiture ceremony at the Alamo for his Design Excellence accomplishments. At the event, the AIA jury members shared that Dittenhafer, “through highly imaginative but rooted and contextually sensitive design, has significantly enriched the urban and architectural character of Central Pennsylvania and the surrounding region.” Mr. Dittenhafer has been an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Architecture at the University of Maryland, College Park, design critic for the Pennsylvania School of Art and Design and Harrisburg Community College, and chair of numerous AIA Design Award juries. He also serves on Morgan State University’s Architecture Advisory Board.

Mr. Dittenhafer currently serves on the Boards of Directors of The Pennsylvania State University Architecture Alumni Group, the Southern Branch of the YMCA of York and York County, York Central Market, the York County Community Foundation Energy Committee, and the Advisory Board of the Penn State University York Campus. He is a past president of the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and past board member of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, AIA Pennsylvania and YorkArts.