 He was awarded an NEA fellowship in criticism in 1974 and was the 1998 recipient of the College Art Association's Frank Jewett Mather Award for Art and Architectural Criticism.Gilbert-Rolfe retired from teaching at Art Center College of Design in 2015 receiving the title Professor/Chair Emeritus.He had worked there since 1986, when he was hired to develop an MFA program for the school; before that he taught at Princeton and Cal Arts.