This issue of EPN News is dedicated to a discussion of the 2008 National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) Accreditation Review Conference. The EPN invites you to consider a message from RK Stewart, 2007 AIA president, on the importance of the Accreditation Review Conference (ARC) as well as an article on the collaborative, preparatory process leading up to the conference and specific issues to be addressed, including sustainability and global practice.

As architects, we face the challenge of understanding issues of significance to our profession now and into the future, identifying issues that must be addressed by schools of architecture, and considering appropriate ways to include them in the accreditation documents.

An essential document for your understanding of current accreditation requirements is the NAAB Conditions for Accreditation, 2004 Edition. To access this document, click here.

The Accreditation Review Conference is Vital to Our Future
By RK Stewart, FAIA, AIA President

The needs of the profession in serving our clients and society are constantly changing. The fact that changes are coming at us faster each year is part of the reality of 21st-century practice. The opportunity to regularly review the Student Performance Criteria along with the Conditions and Procedures of Accreditation is, therefore, a unique opportunity for the profession to inform the next generation of the changing conditions of practice.

The 2008 ARC is particularly vital to our future, perhaps more vital than any previous educational standards review. We need to realize that the students educated using the standards we define next year will be practicing at the middle of the 21st-century! The ARC is a unique opportunity to ensure that the profession is prepared and relevant. We are planning for our future as a healthy and consequential profession. Read more.

Discussions on Architecture Education
By Joyce M. Noe, FAIA, University of Hawaii

Bruce Blackmer, FAIA, NAAB president-elect, proposes a collaborative process

EPN activities have consistently engaged educators and practitioners in dynamic discussions on architecture education. The resultant summaries that follow provide insights that will assist the AIA to provide valuable viewpoints at the NAAB 2008 Accreditation Review Conference. At the ACSA Annual Meeting Administrators Luncheon, Ted Landsmark, ACSA president and RK Stewart, AIA president, emphasized the urgent need for change in the NAAB criteria and accreditation procedures. Regarding preparations for the 2008 Accreditation Review Conference, Bruce E. Blackmer, FAIA, President-elect of NAAB, is calling for a level of inter-collateral collaboration that is unprecedented, bringing together diverse perspectives and objectives.

It is interesting to note the parallels between the integrated practice and the sustainability discussions relative to the remodeling of architecture education. My observation is that the constant in all the discussions is the design studio. Read more.

The NAAB Accreditation Review Conference: Its Significance and Your Input
By William C. Miller, FAIA, ACSA Distinguished Professor, University of Utah

When change occurs in architecture education, is it fast and significant? The NAAB Accreditation Review Conference (ARC) provides the setting for influencing the direction and content of architecture education. The ARC, among the most important activities influencing architecture education and the preparation of our future practitioners, involves all of the profession’s professional organizations and associations. The next ARC will be held in October 2008, and you can participate in the process. Read more.

Sustainability is a Hot Button for ARC
By Randy Byers, AIA, The Design Studio Inc., Cheyenne, Wyoming

The Accreditation Review Conference (ARC), and the process of examination, research, and debate that leads up to the ARC, will touch various aspects of architecture education—from design education to professional practice, from continued improvement of studio culture issues to current issues of sustainability and integrated practice. The goal of the process is to ensure that the Conditions and Procedures for Accreditation (known as the C&P) and Student Performance Criteria (SPC) adequately frame and emphasize critical education and practice issues for the academy. Sustainability will likely be a hot button issue that will be a major focus of the ARC.

This past February a number of architecture-school representatives, students, and practitioners gathered at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, Calif., at the AIA-sponsored Conference on Sustainability in Architecture and Higher Education. The purpose of the conference was to examine the breadth and depth of sustainability in architecture education and to establish a dialogue that will help inform AIA’s preparation for the 2008 National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) Accreditation Review Conference (ARC). Read more.

The Global Contexts of an Architecture Education
By Catherine M. Roussel, AIA, Education Director

As we prepare for the 2008 NAAB Accreditation Review Conference, we will consider international and global trends. How will we address global issues in the NAAB Conditions for Accreditation? At the Walter Wagner Forum in 2006, a panel of educators, practitioners, and policy experts explored the question of how to prepare emerging professionals for global practice. The panel provided a progress report on the development of international agreements and discussed potential changes in curriculum and pedagogy. One issue is particularly challenging: the relationship between classroom-based training and real-world practice differ in many countries, and the architect's role and project delivery vary substantially. For a summary of the discussion, with observations written by the panelists, click here.

The latest international efforts relate to establishing a protocol for substantial equivalency among the well-established accreditation/validation agencies to assure portability of academic credentials. See http://collaboration.aia.org/iav  for documents related to this effort.

Cranbrook 2007: Integrated Practice and the Twenty-First Century Curriculum, to be held June 28 - July 1, 2007 at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, is a special joint session of the ACSA Cranbrook Teachers Seminar and the AIA Educator/Practitioner Network Summer Practice Institute. Co-chaired by Daniel S. Friedman, Joyce M. Noe, and Norman H. Strong, Cranbrook 2007 will explore the impact of emerging project delivery methods on the professional curriculum. More than 100 participants registered for the conference will engage in developing alternative models for architecture education within an integrated practice framework. Registration for this conference is now closed. Cranbrook 2007 outcomes will be published in service to NCARB, NAAB, ACSA, AIA, and AIAS and to joint constituencies. For a complete schedule, go to https://acsa-arch.org/conferences/cranbrook2007.aspx

About the EPN

The EPN Advisory Committee is dedicated to facilitating partnerships between educators and practitioners for the professional preparation of architects. For more information, visit www.aia.org/ed_epn.

In January 2007, we welcomed newly appointed EPN Advisory Committee members William C Miller, FAIA; Thompson Nelson, FAIA, AIA Board Liaison; and Peter Rasmussen, FAIA, NCARB Observer. Their participation has infused energy and expertise and enhanced the explorations of the EPN. Sadly, we lost a valued and dear friend, Gregory Clement, FAIA, the AIA Large Firm Roundtable representative on the EPN. Greg passed away this spring; we dedicate this EPN News to honor his contributions as an outstanding designer and caring member of our group.