RESOURCES

ACSA Social Justice Shift

Shifting from Diversity to Equity and Justice

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) is an architecture, non-profit association, leading and serving higher education. As such, we recognize the imperative to shift our focus from diversity to social and ecological justice. The impacts of architectural education have been best understood by those who felt the impact of exclusion and world-making. Architecture is world-making and for centuries it has been tied to land, boundaries, and Euro-centric way of understanding beauty. Both the academy and the profession of architecture are deeply entrenched in by the history and systems of racism, sexism, and immeasurable environmental harm. Focusing on justice allows us to prioritize the long-term fair and equitable access to systemic resources for both society and ecology.

For the past decade, ACSA has strived to engage a more diverse population of faculty, administrators, and professionals. We’ve had some success and some major gaffs along the way but we remained focused on extending our reach.

Near the end of 2017, we found ourselves repeating the same strategies with minimal impact, and in 2019 we made a commitment to look less at cultural competency, diversity, and implicit bias, and more at equity and justice. The policies, programs, and practices listed on the site should not be seen as a pat on the back, but rather a mode of accountability. A crucial part of the work we like doing surrounding social justice are the acts of listening and reflecting. What you will find on our timeline is a reflection of the commitment we made nearly 5 years ago.

In the face of mounting attacks against academic freedom, race-blind admissions, and legislature censoring content on race and gender, we hope that ACSA can be the place to tackle the hard topics in the name of a just future, because everyone and everything is a stakeholder when it comes to the built environment.

October 2014

ACSA publishes “Where Are the Women? Measuring Progress on Gender in Architecture”

Lian Chikako Chang, ACSA Director of Research + Information, published this research as a way to identify the “leaky pipeline” for women in the academy and the profession.

March 2016

ACSA launches StudyArchitecture.com

StudyArchitecture.com is a key component of our communications campaign. The site is designed to help potential students, and their parents, find comprehensive and up-to-date information about architecture schools and understand what it means to study architecture. One goal was to make studying architecture more accessible to an increasingly diverse student body.

April 2016

ACSA adopts a new strategic plan naming “Equity” and “Diversity and Inclusiveness” as core values

An excerpt from the new strategic plan:

2. Advocacy and Impact

2.1 Increase understanding of the specific systemic barriers to achieving gender and racial diversity in architectural education and the profession.

2.2 Enhance understanding among college and university leaders of the unique characteristics and needs of architectural education.

2.3 Increase interdisciplinary programs.

2.4 Expand engagement with community colleges.

2.5 Expand multi-collateral conferences and workshops focused on education, research, practice, and civic engagement.

2.6 Expand K-12 programs to encourage a diverse range of students to study architecture.

August 2016

ACSA charges the Education Committee with tackling Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity & Equity Initiative
The task force is charged with recommending best practices to help schools increase demographic diversity at ACSA member programs. The committee should identify systemic barriers to these forms of diversity in architectural education, where previously published or discussed within ACSA. It should organize sessions or events at the ACSA Administrators Conference and Annual Meeting, plan a webinar, and author one or more blog posts on the ACSA website.

Committee Members

Lynne Dearborn, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (chair)
Derek Ham, North Carolina State University
Michaele Pride, University of New Mexico
Randy Steiner, Montgomery College, CCCAP
Rashida Ng, ACSA Treasurer, Temple University
Carmina Sanchez, Hampton University
Patrick Tripeny, University of Utah
Francis Lyn, ACSA Gulf Director, Florida Atlantic University
Rachel Law, ACSA Student Director, American Institute of Architecture Students
Kendall A. Nicholson, ACSA Director of Research & Information

November 2016

The ACSA Education Committee presents at the 2016 Administrators conference in Chicago, IL.

At the time, ACSA defined “demographic diversity” as comprised of the following categories:

  • Race and ethnicity
  • Gender
  • LGBTQ identity
  • Socioeconomics
  • Marital/ family status
  • International/ domestic status

2016 Administrators Conference, session

Student Success Across the Spectrum
Facilitators: Rashida Ng, Temple University
Lynne Dearborn, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

This discussion will address barriers and best practices for achieving student success within diverse student populations. It will be led by ACSA’s Education Committee, which is charged with recommending best practices to help schools increase demographic diversity at ACSA member programs.

The committee along with participating faculty identified the following barriers:

  • Geographical distinctions
  • Financial resources
  • Low salaries
  • Elitist profession
  • Public perceptions of the relevance
    of architecture
  • Studio/professional culture
  • Lack of diversity in curricula
  • Lack of diverse role models in
    practice and academia
  • Need for greater work/life balance
  • Complicated and self-guided path
    to licensure

November 2016

ACSA serves as the research partner with AIA San Francisco Equity by Design for the 2016 Equity in Architecture survey

The 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey was designed to generate a comprehensive national dataset detailing current positions and career experiences of architecture school graduates. With the assistance of architecture’s national collateral organizations, AIA component chapters, firms, and academic institutions, survey invitations were sent out to a broad cross-section of the profession. The resulting dataset — the largest ever collected on equity within the profession — documents the experiences of 8,664 individuals representing all 50 states and nations on six continents.

June 2017

The ACSA Education Committee publishes the list of “77 things YOU can do to make architectural education more diverse”

This list was created from a workshop held during the 105th Annual Meeting session. While progressive at the time, in hindsight this list was more focused on prejudice and microaggressions than systems and histories of oppression.

105th Annual Meeting, session

Moving Forward: Equity and Diversity
Description: The importance of understanding equity in architectural education is illustrated by the disparate outcome of students with diverse and uneven backgrounds. For many reasons, some individuals and student groups disproportionately drop out along the way and some graduates find themselves ill prepared for the professional world. Building on five themes identified at the 2016 Administrators Conference, session participants will engage in discussions structured toward the dual goals of identifying actionable activities and longer-range strategies to support success of diverse students in varied architectural education programs.

July 2017

The ACSA Education Committee continues tackling Diversity and Inclusion

The committee is charged with continuing the work developed in 2016-17 to help schools increase the diversity of the faculty and student body. The committee should create resources for schools to deploy, and should continue to organize sessions or events at the ACSA Administrators Conference and Annual Meeting, plan a webinar, and author one or more blog posts on the ACSA website. The committee should also concentrate on developing ways for ACSA to engage the full range community colleges more fully, both through existing programs and in other potential ways, with a goal of community college faculty engagement.

Committee Members

Derek Ham (North Carolina State) (chair)
Charlie Setterfield (Sinclair Community College)
Carmina Sanchez (Hampton U.)
Rashida Ng (Second Vice President, Temple U.)
Francis Lyn (Gulf Director, Florida Atlantic U.)
Elizabeth Seidel (Student Director, AIAS)
Beth Lundell Garver (Northeast Director, Boston Architectural College)
Kendall A. Nicholson (Director of Research and Information, ACSA)

November 2017

ACSA publishes the ACSA Cards for Equity

The cards were available for sale and could be used at faculty meetings to discuss the 77 ways to champion diversity and equity at one’s home institution.

December 2017

The ACSA Education Committee develops the Journey Map Exercise for students and faculty

The journey map exercise was completed at AIAS Forum in 2017 with the President’s Circle and then again with faculty and students at an ACSA conference.

The Journey Map Exercise
Understanding Socio-economic Equity Along and Architecture Student’s Journey Objective

The objective of this exercise was to record your journey as you consider or complete an
education in architecture, framed in the context of socio-economic equity. Students and faculty were asked to documented the advantages and barriers they encountered as they considered an architectural education. To ensure a rich collection of findings, participants are encouraged to document their journey regardless of your current status, even if they are no longer considering architectural education.

January 2018

ACSA conducts the “ACSA Pipeline Survey” looking into systemic barriers

The ACSA Pipeline Survey focused on the barriers to admission and retention for undergraduate programs in architecture. Results can be found in the “Moving Towards an Equitable Future” white paper published in June of 2018.

February 2018

ARCHITECT magazine published a piece titled “Pipeline Diversity and Graduation Rates” authored by Kendall A. Nicholson, ACSA’s Director of Research and Information

Pipeline Diversity and Graduation Rates
Data from the ACSA show that there’s room for improvement in on-time graduation rates among minority students.

Click the image to read more.

March 2018

The ACSA Education Committee presents at the 106th Annual Meeting
106th Annual Meeting

106th Annual Meeting, session

Moving Towards An Equitable Future
Over the last year members of the ACSA Education Committee have been looking at issues related to diversity and equity as it pertains to students trying to enter into the architecture profession. This topic has been brought into further focus by taking a strong look at the socioeconomic barriers that might be present for prospective students. While various qualitative data collection methods have been used in the past to pinpoint certain areas of struggle, this year the committee has approached researching this problem with a more quantitative approach. The committee created and disseminated a detailed survey to various administrators representing all of the US based architecture programs. The intent was to gather a broader, yet concise picture on what is actually required to enter into an accredited architecture program. In this session we will share the preliminary findings from this data in hope of generating a much broader discussion surrounding equity and highlighting what solutions might exist to help meditate these problems. Participants of the session will get a first look at the data, before further publication. The session will culminate with small group discussions and a panel discussion reviewing the expected and the not so expected results.

June 2018

ACSA publishes a white paper entitled “Moving Towards an Equitable Future”

Moving Towards An Equitable Future, White Paper
The Education Committee leads ACSA’s efforts to improve the effectiveness of architectural education through best practices. The committee oversees and recommends, as necessary, actions to cultivate and disseminate these best practices.

Areas of focus for the committee include: Teaching; Access to higher education (including demographic diversity); Student success; Educational assessment; Relationship of architectural education to higher education; Education-to-practice transition; Curriculum development; & Pre-professional or non-accredited architectural education.

There are many challenges facing architectural higher education today. Among them achieving socioeconomic equity for current and prospective architecture students seems to be most pressing, and at the same time most elusive. During the 2017-18 academic year, the Education Committee has focused on this issue. Equity is what some might call a “wicked problem” that is difficult to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, or changing requirements that are often hard to recognize. The discussion of equity and inclusion in architectural education requires that we start by defining the context of targeted diversity. This year, the Education Committee has elected to focus on diversity of socioeconomic status (SES) among prospective and current architecture students. The American Psychological Association characterizes socioeconomic status as a “combination of education, income and occupation” which is distinct from race or gender in that it is challenging for faculty to detect, particularly given that students might “strive to appear middle-class in order to self-normalize” (Yale Center for Teaching and Learning).

Read More

The importance of understanding equity in architectural education is illustrated by the disparate outcome of students with varied SES backgrounds. For many reasons, some individuals and student groups disproportionately drop out along their pathway to architectural education, while other students graduate faced with a sense of ill-preparedness for the professional world. The Education Committee’s primary objective is to identify systemic barriers to these forms of diversity in architectural education through an exploration of publications and surveys distributed within ACSA, as well as outside ACSA.

+ Moving Towards an Equitable Future, White Paper

October 2018

The ACSA focuses on race, gender, and class, announcing a new strategic plan for 2019-2021 making “Equity and Inclusion” a core value

An excerpt from the new strategic plan:

Equity and Inclusion
ACSA will advance an inclusive, diverse, and equitable discipline and profession.

2.1 Improve gender, racial, and socioeconomic equity in architectural education.
2.2 Increase the number of architecture students with diverse perspectives and abilities.

November 2018

ACSA serves as the research partner with AIA San Francisco Equity by Design for the 2018 Equity in Architecture Survey

The 2018 Equity in Architecture Survey was designed in partnership with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and over 50 volunteers from around the country with the goal of generating a comprehensive national data set detailing current positions and career experiences of architecture school graduates. With the assistance of architecture’s national collateral organizations, AIA components, firms, and academic institutions, survey invitations were sent out to a broad cross-section of the profession.

The resulting data set—the largest ever collected on equity within the profession—documents the experiences of 14,360 individuals representing all 50 states and nations on six continents. This unprecedented collection of professional voices is the testimony that allows us to build a deeper understanding of our strengths as a profession, and to gain insight into the critical work needed to provide each individual within our field with opportunities to thrive and to make a lasting impact within the communities that we serve.

July 2019

The ACSA Leadership Committee is charged with increasing access and promoting equity

Increasing Access and Promoting Equity
The Leadership Committee is charged with identifying strategies to increase access to architectural education and support retention for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to improve the racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender diversity of schools and ultimately the profession. The committee is encouraged to consider the full range of architectural programs, including those in community colleges, non-accredited, and accredited professional programs.

Committee Members

Samia Rab Kirchner, Morgan State University, (chair)
Andrew Chin, Florida A&M University
John Dwyer, Dunwoody College Lauren Matchison, University of Southern California
Robert Gonzalez, ACSA Second Vice President, University of New Mexico
Victor Rubin, ACSA Public Board Member, PolicyLink
June Williamson, ACSA At-Large Director, City College of New York
Kendall A. Nicholson, Director of Research and Information, ACSA

October 2019

ACSA engages Hackman Consulting Group to lead equity and social justice training for the ACSA Board and staff

This moment of learning and listening marked a major turning point for ACSA. Trainings started with the ACSA Board and senior staff and in the coming years would spread to new ACSA Board members and committee volunteers.

March 2020

COVID-19 pandemic begins in North America

May 2020

The murder of George Floyd + widespread racial reckoning

June 2020

ACSA releases a statement addressing racial injustice

Call to Action to Seek a More Equitable Future 
The ACSA condemns the continual acts of violence against African Americans, including George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many others. We believe Black Lives Matter. The protests sparked by these events highlight the history of entrenched inequality experienced by people of color and Native/Indigenous people. We acknowledge the role of design in creating and perpetuating differential access to basic public services, including housing, green space, education, and health care, to name a few. We recognize the profession’s history of contributing to inequity through actions but also through inaction. We understand that architectural education has for too long accepted white privilege as the norm, limiting diverse voices and marginalizing the discipline’s impact on society….

June 2020

The ACSA Education Committee hosts a webinar about best practices to promote social equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) at schools of architecture

Developing Policies and Shifting operations for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
This panel will share best practices to promote social equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) at schools of architecture. What steps might schools take to develop and assess impactful and measurable EDI policies? What tools can schools and departments use to measure the increased awareness of, access to, retention in, and successful graduation from architecture programs for minority students? Participation in this workshop will jumpstart a program’s efforts to develop an EDI policy and imagine ways to respond to the 2020 National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) Conditions and Procedures.

June 2020

ACSA publishes “Where Are the Women? Measuring Progress on Gender in Architecture” an update to the data published in 2014

Like many professions in the United States, architecture has a long-standing history of being a male-dominated field. From its inception, the discipline has not been accessible for all people. In 2014, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) investigated the disparities between men and women in the areas of representation, inclusion, and recognition. This 2020 edition of Where Are the Women? updates information highlighting how women make up an equal part of the population but an unequal part of the discipline.

July 2020

Two out of three ACSA program committees get charges focused on racial equity and social justice

ACSA Research and Scholarship Committee

Advancing Scholarship on Equity and Justice in Built Environments
The Research and Scholarship Committee is charged with assessing scholarly work in the discipline on the intersection of social equity and justice in built environments. The committee will collect data on scholarly activity, identify case studies, and consult experts in the field to create a report and recommend strategies by which ACSA can support future research and creative practice.

ACSA Leadership Committee

Power Dynamics and Racial Equity
The Education Committee is charged with examining the experiences and reflections of architecture students and faculty with respect to power dynamics and racial equity in program-level governance, curriculum decisions, policies and procedures, and how faculty and students perceive these dynamics influence success in the academic context. This work will involve collecting quantitative and qualitative data from students and faculty and comparatively analyzing these data between and among racial groups, with a particular emphasis on the experiences and reflections of Black and indigenous students and faculty members. This work should identify barriers as well as models that equitably include voices of Black and indigenous students and faculty of color in architecture’s academic contexts.

August 2020

ACSA publishes “Where Are My People? Black in Architecture” the first in the Where Are My People? Series

In the area of racial diversity, it is commonly known that representation, or the lack thereof, is a discipline-wide issue. Where Are My People? is a research series that investigates how architecture interacts with race and how the nation’s often ignored systems and histories perpetuate the problem of racial inequity. Inspired by the data visualizations created by W.E.B. Du Bois in 1900, the first research report in the series, Black in Architecture, highlights metrics to help both the profession and the academy understand what it means to navigate architecture as a Black person.

October 2020

ACSA hosts a webinar about creating inclusive and equitable teaching and learning cultures

Culture Change in Architectural Education
Students and faculty alike are calling for architecture schools to be more inclusive and equitable, particularly for women and/or BIPOC students. This session will feature students and faculty engaged in change processes, both tangible (i.e., curriculum, teaching/learning culture policies) and intangible (i.e., unwritten practices and cultural conditions). Speakers will give brief presentations followed by breakout discussions about the building blocks for teaching/learning culture. All participants are welcome to discuss their challenges and successes.

October 2020

ACSA publishes “Where Are My People? Hispanic & Latinx in Architecture”

As architecture continues to reckon with the harm and complacency engendered by the hands of designers, ACSA continues exploring the intersection of race and architecture. Where Are My People? is a research series that investigates how architecture interacts with race and how the nation’s often ignored systems and histories perpetuate the problem of racial inequity. Hispanic and Latinx in Architecture chronicles both societal and discipline specific metrics in an effort to highlight the experiences of Hispanic and Latinx designers, architects and educators.

November 2020

The ACSA Leadership Committee holds a panel on Faculty Diversity

Define & Design the New Normal: Faculty Diversity & Excellence
This webinar seeks to unearth and address implicit assumptions and expectations in current faculty hiring practices, and to consider what characteristics and experiences are privileged by the application of these measures in order to more directly apply a diversity-minded approach to defining excellence. In the context of today’s changes, challenges, and opportunities in teaching, the panelists will present and explore innovative new practices which seek to diversify the profile of an architectural faculty.

November 2020

The ACSA Leadership Committee holds a panel on Power Dynamics and Racial Equity in Architecture

Perspectives on Power Dynamics and Racial Equity in Architecture
This online panel is a discussion that includes professional, academic, and student perspectives that will examine the experiences of architecture students and faculty specifically related to the topic of “Power Dynamics and Racial Equity in Architecture”. The discussion will begin with panelist experiences that inform their understanding of the advancement of racial equity. Topics of power dynamics and gaps in knowledge that influence inclusion will be explored in relation to power dynamics within architectural education and the profession that need to be re-examined with relation to racial equity.

November 2020

The ACSA Research and Scholarship Committee hosts a webinar about the data they’ve collected around equity in the built environment

Advancing Scholarship on Equity and Justice Across the Built Environment
This online discussion examines ACSA’s contributions to the past decade of research and creative practice that advances scholarship on equity and justice in built environments. A panel of ACSA Research & Scholarship Committee members will present preliminary findings from its review of ACSA publications, activities, and a survey of ACSA members, followed by dialog among participants.

December 2020

ACSA publishes “Where Are My People? Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander in Architecture”

The history of racism, injustice, and disenfranchisement is no stranger to architecture. Where Are My People? is a research series that investigates how architecture interacts with race and how the nation’s often ignored systems and histories perpetuate the problem of racial inequity. Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander in Architecture chronicles both societal and discipline specific metrics in an effort to highlight the experiences of designers, architects and educators of Asian, Hawaiian and Pacific Island heritage.

December 2020

ACSA publishes the Architecture and Equity Course List

Courses Addressing Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Built Environment
This directory of current and past course offerings was started in response to events in 2020 highlighting racial inequity across the United States and abroad. Many institutions have added new courses that investigate the intersection of race, equity, social justice and the built environment. Below you will find a list of ACSA member schools that have made efforts to modify the curriculum of architectural education at their respective institutions.

December 2020

The ACSA Budget and Enrollment Survey disaggregates BIPOC admission data

When evaluating this year’s changes in enrollment and applications, we also asked about BIPOC admissions. Of the participating programs, just over 1/3 reported no change in applications and enrollment. However, 28% of programs reported an increase in BIPOC applications and enrollment and when including those who saw a decrease in applications from BIPOC people, 36% of programs reported an increase in BIPOC enrollment. If this sample is indicative of the total population of schools, we should see NAAB’s Annual Report reflect the increased numbers of BIPOC students in the next few years

February 2021

ACSA publishes “Where Are My People? Native American, First Nations & Indigenous in Architecture”

Architecture is a discipline inextricably tied to the land on which we live. This land has a story and uncovering the racial disparities across the continent is one way to tell it. Where Are My People? is a research series that investigates how architecture interacts with race and how the nation’s often ignored systems and histories perpetuate the problem of racial inequity. Where Are My People? Native and Indigenous in Architecture chronicles both societal and discipline specific metrics in an effort to highlight the experiences of Native American, First Nations, Alaskan Native, Métis, Inuit and other Indigenous designers, architects, and educators.

March 2021

ACSA shares aggregated data to support the AIA Large Firm Round Table + NOMA 2030 Challenge

April 2021

ACSA hosts a webinar about Culturally Responsive Teaching

Culturally Responsive Teaching: Providing an Equitable Architectural Education
As educators, our mission is to ensure that every student can succeed. As a discipline, architecture often prioritizes the “product,” and the “place” before considering the “people”. This lecture will share the theoretical framework originally established by Gloria Ladson-Billings in her efforts to reach students from diverse backgrounds, and the tangible strategies necessary for validating students’ voices. By developing a socio-political consciousness, Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) empowers faculty to engage students in ways that architects should engage the public.

May 2021

ACSA partners with Dark Matter University to host a webinar in anti-racist design pedagogy

Dark Matter University: Lesson in Anti-Racist Design Pedagogy
In this session, members of the DMU collective will share one year’s worth of teaching experiences and efforts bringing new design education models to academic institutions all over the U.S. and Canada to better acknowledge and address the structural legacies of racial injustice. The courses that will be presented vary from introductory courses, to advanced seminars, to design studios. Unifying these efforts is a commitment to collectivity: each course is taught by at least two educators and experiments with cross-institutional, transdisciplinary learning environments that advocate for expanded criteria for success.

July 2021

ACSA publishes “Where Are My People? Middle Eastern and Northern African in Architecture”

In the area of racial diversity, it is commonly known that representation, or the lack thereof, is a discipline-wide issue. Where Are My People? is a research series that investigates how architecture interacts with race and how the nation’s often ignored systems and histories perpetuate the problem of racial inequity. The last piece in the series, Where Are My People? Middle Eastern and North African, covers a group of people who continue to face mass discrimination, and combat popular misconceptions about heritage and religion.

August 2021

All three ACSA program committees get charges focused on racial equity and/or social justice

ACSA Leadership Committee
In 2021-22 the committee will develop opportunities to highlight effective inclusion and equity strategies for leadership and operational changes in architecture programs. This includes new administrative positions or structures, committee initiatives, teaching resources, and community engagements. Aided by data and information collected from architecture programs, the committee is asked to prepare a report drafted in time for public input before the Annual Business Meeting and finalized by the end of June 2022. The committee will host sessions at the 2021 Administrators Conference (October 14-15) and 2022 Annual Meeting (March 17-19).

Committee Members

Elgin Cleckley, University of Virginia (chair)
Adrian Parr, University of Oregon
Charlton Lewis, UT Austin
Gabriel Diaz Montemayor, University of Arkansas
Edson Cabalfin, Tulane University
Mo Zell, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, ACSA 2nd Vice President
Catherine Hamel, University of Calgary, ACSA Canadian Director
Kwesi Daniels, Tuskegee University, ACSA At-large director
Kendall A. Nicholson, Director of Research and Information, ACSA

ACSA Education Committee
In 2021-22 the Education Committee is charged with researching ways to expand access to higher education, particularly for community college students. The committee will work to find ways to make transfer more consistent, fair, and equitable across institutions. This work will include collecting data and information about community college transfers and transfer policies and articulation agreements. The committee will develop a list of schools with transparent and welcoming transfer policies. The committee will also seek to strengthen connections to ACSA full member schools for community colleges and four-year programs. They will use ACSA conferences, StudyArchitecture.com, and ACSA webinars to highlight stories of successful people who started in community college or who are first generation college students. They will also explore creating meet-ups of community colleges and regional architecture programs.

Committee Members

Andrew Chin, Florida A&M (co-chair)
Mark Pearson, College of DuPage (co-chair)
Shawhin Roudbari, University of Colorado Boulder
Jose R. Vazquez, Miami Dade College
Dwayne Bohuslav, San Antonio College
Ane Gonzalez Lara, Pratt Institute
Shannon De Franza, Student Director
Courtney Crosson, University of Arizona, ACSA At-large director
Beth Lundell Garver, Boston Architectural College, ACSA Liaison to AIAS Board
Danielle Dent, Director of Membership and Marketing, ACSA

ACSA Research and Scholarship Committee
Advancing Scholarship on Equity and Justice in Built Environments. The Research and Scholarship Committee is charged with continuing its work to strengthen and support architectural scholarship related to the intersection of social equity and justice in built environments.

Building from the data collection completed in 2020-21, the committee will identify case studies or exemplars for sharing with the ACSA membership and the public. It will determine the best means for developing content through these case studies, which might include sponsoring a poster session, written or oral interviews, summaries of work written by committee members, or other means.

Committee Members

Christine Theodoropoulos, CalPoly, San Luis Obispo (chair)
Evan Richardson, Morgan State
Manuel Cordero Alvarado, RISD
Shawn Rickenbacker, City College of New York
Andrzej Zarzycki, NJIT, TAD representative
Joyce Hwang, University at Buffalo, JAE representative
Gundula Proksch, University of Washington, At-large director
Eric Ellis, Director of Operations and Programs, ACSA

October 2021

2021 ACSA Administrator Conference Kicks off with a plenary from Heather Hackman

Meeting the Moment: The Need for a Racial Equity Lens in Architectural Education
Heather Hackman discusses the need for architectural educators to develop a racial equity lens in order to rectify the injustice found in both architecture and the academy.

December 2021

The ACSA Budget and Enrollment Survey asks a series of questions to measure architecture programs ability to implement equitable policies, procedures and programs

We asked schools if they implemented changes to provide more emphasis on social equity in architectural education. We are glad to report that 80% of the programs reported some implementation of new action to make the program more equitable. The most popular change is that of curricular reviews and curricular additions. Approximately two-thirds reported administrative and/or operational changes.

March 2022

The ACSA Leadership and Education committees launch surveys about equity and access in architectural education

Progress Survey on Equity in Architectural Education
Understanding the new role of the DEI administrator

The survey from this year’s Leadership Committee is focused on DEI Administrators. The goal of this survey is to gather data about administrative positions/school designees and action plans focused on justice, equity, and diversity.

Survey on Expanding Access to Architectural Education
Best practices in transfer and articulation

In 2021-22 the Education Committee is charged with researching ways to expand access to higher education, particularly for community college students. The committee will work to find ways to make transfer more consistent, fair, and equitable across institutions. This work includes collecting information on transfer policies and articulation agreements.

April 2022

ACSA announces the 2022 TIMBER IN THE CITY Competition sponsored by the Softwood Lumber Board focused on equitable living and climate change

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) is pleased to announce TIMBER IN THE CITY 4: Urban Habitats Competition for the 2021-2022 academic year. The competition is a partnership between the Softwood Lumber Board (SLB), ACSA and the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The program is intended to engage students, working individually or in teams, to imagine the transformation of our existing cities through sustainable buildings from renewable resources, offering expedient affordable construction, innovating with new and traditional wooden materials, and designing healthy living and working environments. This is the fourth competition in this TIMBER IN THE CITY series, and focuses this year on the interrelationship between housing, urban transit infrastructure, equitable living, and climate change.

April 2022

ACSA announces the 2022 HABITAT Design Competition: Climate Positive Concrete sponsored by the the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) and Habitat for Humanity International, Inc.

In response to the simultaneous crises of Housing, Climate and Equity, this competition challenges students to envision the ideal Habitat home in one of seven North American regions. The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) is pleased to announce the HABITAT Design Competition: Climate Positive Concrete Housing for the 2021-2022 academic year. The competition is a partnership between the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) and Habitat for Humanity International, Inc. The Habitat Design Competition: Climate Positive Concrete Housing is based on the Habitat for Human

April 2022

ACSA announces the 22nd Steel Competition focused on 21st Century Democratic Public Space sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction

Steel Design Competition, CategoryI: Towards a New Monumentality
21st Century Democratic Public Space: This category asks students to creatively and critically consider novel approaches towards a new monumentality and the conception and creation of democratic public spaces for the twenty-first century. Students are invited to submit design proposals that will address a plurality of publics and generations, and that, as agents for culture and dialogue, can serve to question, illuminate and encourage new kinds of public engagement, aiming to make the world a better place.

April 2022

ACSA announces a new strategic plan for 2022-2025 making “Equity, Social Justice, and Climate Action” a core value

1.1 Improve equity in architectural education, particularly around race, age, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, citizenship status, socioeconomic status, and ability status.

1.2 Promote the diverse perspectives and abilities of historically disenfranchised and/or underrepresented stakeholders.

1.3 Promote educational practices to help mitigate climate change

1.4 Expand student interest and access to the discipline by creating pathways to and from schools of architecture

1.5 Develop programs to support early career and non-traditional faculty and offer opportunities for continued growth and career advancement for all faculty.

1.6 Increase critical awareness of the intersection of equity, social justice, and climate action.

May 2022

ACSA announces the inaugural cohort of ACSA JAE Fellows

The JAE and ACSA recognize the critical need to support the scholarship of architectural educators and researchers who face and continue to encounter systemic and structural obstacles, including racism, within academia and beyond. As a step toward this commitment, we have established one-year Fellowships and online publication commitments for cohorts of four architectural educators, designers, and researchers per year who self-identify as Black, Native/Indigenous, and/or as members of groups that are and have been historically and systemically marginalized and excluded, and whose academic labor is precarious, including adjunct, lecturer, and other non-tenure-track faculty. Proposals may be made by individuals or as part of a collective and will be selected for advancement by the JAE Fellows Advocates. A key component of the JAE Fellows program is to help shift conversations and systems around conventional forms of review and assessment and to productively unsettle exclusive systems and platforms of scholarship, design, research, and creative practice.

June 2022

All three ACSA Program Committees get charges focused on racial equity and social justice

Research & Scholarship Committee
Advancing Scholarship on Climate Action in Built Environments. The Research and Scholarship Committee is charged with assessing scholarly work in the discipline on the intersection of climate action, equity and social justice in the built environment. The committee will collect data on scholarly activity, identify case studies, and consult experts in the field as required to create a summary report of scholarly trends in this arena and recommend strategies by which ACSA can support future research and dissemination over the next three years.

Committee Members

Joyce Hwang, University of Buffalo (chair), JAE Representative
Gundula Proksch, University of Washington, ACSA At-Large Director
Catherine Hamel, University of Calgary, ACSA Canadian Director
Martha Campbell, RMI, ACSA Public Director
Timothy Adekunle, University of Hartford, TAD Representative
Vandana Baweja, University of Florida
José Ibarra, University of Colorado, Denver
Eric Ellis, Senior Director of Operations and Programs

Education Committee
Disseminating Best Practices for Successful Community College Transfer. The Education Committee is charged with continuing its work to strengthen articulation between community colleges and professional and pre-professional architecture programs. Building upon the work of the 2021-2022 “Survey on Expanding Access to Architectural Education” and the identification of “transfer-friendly” practices, the committee will: (1) continue research and develop best practices for and identify barriers to achieving smooth transition to 4- and 5-year programs including, but not limited to appropriate general education and disciplinary coursework, portfolio requirements, and testing; (2) develop FAQs/guidance/maps for articulating pathways into 4- and 5- year programs from community colleges; and (3) formulate a plan for a convening of institutions and organizations (eg ACSA, CCCAP, NAAB) seeking to advance community college transfer to take place no later than fall 2023.

Committee Members

Mark Pearson, College of DuPage (co-chair)
Shawhin Roudbari, University of Colorado, Boulder (co-chair)
Cathi Ho Schar, University of Hawai’i, 2nd VP
Shelby Doyle, Iowa State University, ACSA At-Large Director
Nicole Bass, AIAS Vice President, ACSA Student Director
Beth Lundell Garver, Boston Architectural College, ACSA Liaison to AIAS Board
Andrew Chin, Florida A&M University (continuing)
Dwayne Bohuslav San Antonio College (continuing)
Danielle Dent, Director of Membership, Marketing, and Publications

Leadership Committee
Expanding frameworks for new faculty development. The Leadership Committee is charged with surveying and evaluating new faculty positions–fellowships, visiting positions, etc.–aimed toward diversifying faculty and expanding teaching, research, and scholarship on issues of social and environmental justice, racial equity, and community engagement. Specifically, the committee is asked to provide a survey of existing and new faculty positions that fall within these parameters and evaluate their efficacy in advancing young contingent faculty into tenure-track or other forms of permanent teaching positions. If possible, the committee should also evaluate the impact of these positions on curricular reform.

Committee Members

Edson Cabalfin, Tulane University (chair)
Kwesi Daniels, Tuskegee University, ACSA At-Large Director
Marcelo López-Dinardi, Texas A&M University, ACSA At-Large Director
Noah Resnick, University of Detroit Mercy
Adrian Parr, University of Oregon (continuing)
Amelyn Ng, RISD
Kendall A. Nicholson, Director of Research and Information

July 2022

ACSA partners with Pratt Institute and the Softwood Lumber Board to host the 2022 Teachers Conference: The SUMMIT FOR CLIMATE AGENCY

At a moment when architecture is being asked to reconsider how it affects the global environment, teaching the design experiment suggests an approach which can both be ambitious and tempered, comprehensive yet specific and calibrated. How do we adjust the content of our teaching to engender an interest in conducting experiments in the field for future generations? How do we bring research and design together?

The Summit for Climate Agency: Teaching the Design Experiment will tackle these questions through a series of roundtable discussions and workshops structured to examine experimental methods within architectural education concerning the questions of Observation, Hypothesis, Testing, and Analysis.

August 2022

The ACSA Board approves the Finance Committee recommendation to shift its investment portfolio to reflect the values of the organization

Social Responsible Investing

The committee met with ACSA’s investment advisors who screened our portfolio against a standard set of metrics focused on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) objectives. After developing a values statement tied to the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and new processes for tracking investment. The ACSA Finance Committee recommended greater alignment between our investments at the time, to our mission and vision for the organization. The ACSA Board approved this new approach.

October 2022

ACSA hosts a webinar about spatial equity in the design studio

As architecture programs seek to provide more equitable and inclusive cultures, the time has come for us to question the design studio typology, so prevalent and historically grounded within North American programs. This webinar presents survey-based research on the efficacy of spatial and social elements of design studios. The work seeks a critically reflective look at the power dynamics of our learning communities. Cross-referencing survey results with demographic data on the participants reveals how learning experiences vary intensely across identities. Faculty, administrators, and researchers interested in power dynamics, the effectiveness of design learning spaces, or simply critiquing the design of an architecture studio are invited to join us for the presentation and group discussions.

October 2022

The ACSA College of Distinguished Professors awards inaugural Faculty Travel grants

The $2,000 USD grants are intended to support emerging faculty who are from historically marginalized backgrounds—specifically, Black, native/indigenous, and Latinx faculty, as well as LGBTQ+ faculty and faculty teaching at institutions identified as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI).

Grant funds are intended to cover a full registration to the conference, as well as transportation, lodging, and meals. Funds will be disbursed for the Administrators Conference in mid-October and for the Annual Meeting in December. The travel grants are made possible through funded contributions collected by ACSA’s College of Distinguished Professors and funds allocated by the ACSA Board of Directors.

The travel grants stem from a recognition that architectural education—and specifically, ACSA’s conferences— benefit from the inclusion of more faculty and students from systemically marginalized backgrounds. Academic conferences provide important sites for exchange of ideas and experiences among faculty. They also provide an opportunity for faculty to expand and deepen their network of colleagues. This helps faculty advance in the profession and creates opportunities for collaboration in research and teaching.

November 2022

The ACSA Board approves the recommendations from the ACSA Nominations Procedures Task Force

The goal of the task force was to develop a framework for policies that guide the solicitation, review, and nomination of candidates for volunteer positions within the ACSA. These include: (a) board positions, (b) journal editorial board positions, (c) committee and task force positions.

This work was in recognition that the ACSA had not done enough to counter the marginalization of faculty who are Black, Native/Indigenous, and/or as members of groups that have been historically and systemically marginalized and excluded. Beyond the issues of demographic exclusion, but still relevant to these processes, was the recognition that faculty rank or appointment status, areas of research/scholarship, and other categories can explicitly or implicitly disadvantage candidates from participation in ACSA volunteer boards, committees, and task forces.

December 2022

The ACSA Budget and Enrollment Survey investigates equity in studio space

On the heels of research on equity in studio spaces, we asked programs to self-assess the level of agreement with the following statement: We have flexible studio spaces and often rearrange the desks and/or seating to address the diverse needs of our students.

In response to this statement, 31% of schools reported disagreement but the majority (54%) of participating programs reported some level of agreement (31% strongly agree, 23% somewhat agree). More research would need to be conducted to better understand the amount of agency students have to activate the flexibility in studio space.

This topic is discussed in greater detail in our recent webinar entitled Towards a more JUST Design Studio: Analyzing Power Dynamics in Our Studio Spaces

January 2023

The 2022-23 ACSA President issues a statement on Equity

Statement from the ACSA President
We begin 2023 with much still to be done in our pursuit of racial justice across the United States. Mass shootings and other violence targeted at women, people of color, ethnic and religious minorities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and schoolchildren continue in the context of a fractured body politic. We continue to experience the fall-out of the 2020 election, the revelations of the January 6th committee, a Supreme Court willing to roll back not only personal rights but also the role of the Environmental Protection Agency, and continued attempts at voter suppression and disenfranchisement. Disconcertingly, there has also been an uptick in state legislation that limits freedom of expression to the extent that some of the most innovative studios and seminars in our curricula could be subject to scrutiny and cancellation–precisely those that interrogate the legacies of racial injustice wrought through our built environment and architecture’s complicity in them.

We have returned to our classrooms and studios; students and faculty are traveling again to conferences, student exchanges, and study abroad. A lingering instability reminds us that we must attend to the high stakes pressures of higher education, job precarity, mental health, unequal resources, and the toll of student debt that are exacerbated by systemic racism.

We must continue to speak out against injustice and exclusion. For ACSA this includes advocating for changes in architecture and architectural education to remedy the systemic embrace of historically White and Eurocentric theories, design aesthetics, and processes as the best or only bases in our discipline.

— Sharon Haar, President

February 2023

AIA & ACSA release the Equity in Architectural Education supplement as part of the larger set of the AIA Guides to Equitable Practice

Equity in Architectural Education: This supplementary edition asserts that organizational culture is the basis for achieving goals of EDI in each sector of the profession. Together, the guides and this supplement reflect the many ways in which EDI goals and means can be integrated into professional practice and the academy alike.

March 2023

ACSA and AIA present the Equity in Architectural Education Supplement to faculty at the 111th ACSA Annual Meeting

ACSA-AIA Equity in Architectural Education: Inspire
Join us for a guided 90-minute critical conversation focused on the most recent Guides for Equitable Practice supplement, “Equity in Architectural Education”. Aimed at inspiring discussion and organizational change required to achieve equity, diversity and inclusion goals, groups will be lead through prompts developed by project lead Renee Cheng, FAIA, NOMA, DPACSA and her team. Participants will be asked to use tools from the guide to consider different viewpoints, share perspectives, and consider how to keep discussions going in department meetings and studios.

Presenters:
AIA President, Emily Grandstaff-Rice, FAIA
ACSA Director of Research and Information, Kendall A. Nicholson
AIA Director of Academic Engagement, Andrea Milo

Discussion Leaders:
Andrew D. Chin, Interim Dean, Florida A&M University (FAMU)
Thomas Fowler, FAIA, DPACSA, NOMA, Director and Faculty of the Graduate Program, California State Polytechnic University
June Williamson, RA, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, Professor; Director, Master of Architecture and MS Architecture Programs, The City College of New York

April 2023

The 111th ACSA Annual Meeting held in St. Louis, MO offers attendees an anti-racist workshop for architectural educators
In Commons Conference Logo

Racism Untaught Workshop
Racism Untaught is focused on cultivating learning environments for people to further explore issues of race and racism, from the obvious to the invisible. The workshop is a toolkit that will use the design research process to assist participants in identifying racialized design and critically assess anti-racist design approaches. The toolkit is meant for educators and students interested in uncovering design that perpetuates elements of racism and creating artifacts, systems, and/or experiences that help solve elements of racism. The workshop is an opportunity for educators to foster conversations and learning environments focused on diversity, inclusion, and equity to ensure new ideas, critical thinking, and diverse forms of making.

June 2023

ACSA hosts the 2023 Convening to Advance Community College Transfer and Articulation in Architectural Education to discuss expanding pathways in architectural education with CCCAP and Thomas Jefferson University

The 2023 ACSA Convening to Advance Community College Transfer in Architectural Education took place on June 1-2 in Philadelphia. This two-day event was dedicated to advancing the ACSA Education Committee’s Charge of strengthening articulation between community colleges and professional and pre-professional architecture programs. While this inaugural event was invite-only, we wanted to share with you a recap of the event. Over the course of the two days, over 70 stakeholders from community colleges, universities, and architecture alliance members worked to identify and navigate transfer barriers, identify best practices for transfer relationships, develop learning outcomes for the first two years of an architecture degree, and drafted a toolkit that would start to outline a roadmap for improving transfer and much more.

June 2023

The ACSA Leadership Committee publishes the Fellowships in Architectural Education report

The intention of this paper is to highlight the rapidly expanding framework of new faculty development, with a specific focus on fellowships, at schools of architecture and design. Since the recent surge of racial reckoning in 2020, our discipline has seen an influx of new faculty fellowships focused on research and representation related to issues of social and environmental justice, racial equity, and community engagement. By engaging current and former fellows, full-time faculty, and administrators, this paper articulates the fine line between fellowships as a point of access to teaching opportunity, and the inherent precarity of short-term faculty positions, especially for topics related to social and environmental justice. By asking questions about institutional constraints, the impact on classrooms and curricula, and the unspoken service advising students interested in current topics, this paper provides insight to the experience of fellows across architectural education.

June 2023

The Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) publishes Volume 77 Issue 1 Reparations!

Reparations!
Reparations! invites architectural design proposals, speculative studies, and scholarly research addressing reparations in the built and destroyed environment. As architecture gives shape to asymmetrical effects on the environment, we ask how reparations look, operate, and affect Black and Indigenous communities, and what the potential effects are upon the state of architectural education and practice. How can architectural institutions work towards reparations?

Theme Editors:
V. Mitch McEwen, Princeton University
Cruz Garcia, Iowa State University
Nathalie Frankowski, Iowa State University

June 2023

ACSA co-authors a joint statement responding to the Supreme Court’s decision regarding race-conscious admissions

The ACSA, AIA, AIAS and NOMA recognize that even with affirmative action, the number of minorities enrolled in our nation’s colleges and universities is disproportionate to our demographics. By removing these protections, we are concerned that the impact of underrepresentation may worsen outcomes for everyone.

July 2023

The ACSA Research and Scholarship Committee tackles the impact of Climate Action in built environments and the ACSA Leadership investigates expanding access through K-12

ACSA Research and Scholarship Committee
Expanding the Impact of Scholarship on Climate Action in Built Environments. For 2024 the committee will strengthen, and support architectural scholarship related to the intersection of social equity and climate action focusing beyond academic structures like tenure and promotion to outward facing, external promotion of research and scholarship.

Committee Members

José Ibarra, U. Colorado Denver (chair);
Timothy Adekunle, U. Utah;
Ian Caine, U. Texas San Antonio;
Martha Campbell, RMI;
Shelby Doyle, Iowa State;
José L.S. Gámez, UNCC;
Shawhin Roudbari, U. Colorado Bolder
Eric Ellis, Senior Director of Operations and Programs, ACSA

ACSA Leadership Committee
In 2023-24, the committee will work to highlight effective inclusion and equity strategies before students reach architecture programs, focusing particularly on K-12 outreach programs. Collaboration with Alliance Organizations like AIA and NOMA are possible since they are also developing similar assessments and outreach.

Committee Members

Edson Cabalfin, Tulane University, (chair)
Peter Robinson, Secretary/Treasurer, Cornell University
Catherine Hamel, At-large director, Calgary
Ulrike Altenmüller-Lewis, Drexel University
John Comazzi, University of Virginia
Michael Zaretsky, University of Oregon
Noah Resnick , Detroit-Mercy
Kendall A. Nicholson, Senior Director of Research, Equity, and Education, ACSA

August 2023

ACSA announces the second cohort of ACSA JAE Fellows

The JAE and ACSA recognize the critical need to support the scholarship of architectural educators and researchers who face and continue to encounter systemic and structural obstacles, including racism, within academia and beyond. As a step toward this commitment, we have established one-year Fellowships and online publication commitments for cohorts of four architectural educators, designers, and researchers per year who self-identify as Black, Native/Indigenous, and/or as members of groups that are and have been historically and systemically marginalized and excluded, and whose academic labor is precarious, including adjunct, lecturer, and other non-tenure-track faculty. Proposals may be made by individuals or as part of a collective and will be selected for advancement by the JAE Fellows Advocates. A key component of the JAE Fellows program is to help shift conversations and systems around conventional forms of review and assessment and to productively unsettle exclusive systems and platforms of scholarship, design, research, and creative practice.

August 2023

ACSA announces the recipients of the ACSA Faculty Fellowship to Advance Equity in Architecture

WAI Architecture Think Tank to Extend the Impact of ACSA Programs through Website, Lecture Series, and Publication

August 2023

ACSA proposes new criteria for architectural education awards

ACSA implemented new criteria across all awards for the 2024 Awards season. These changes are aimed at enhancing the transparency, acknowledgment, and equitable practices within the awards program while promoting the values and goals of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).

ACSA CORE VALUES
• Equity, Social Justice, and Climate Action
• Teaching and Learning
• Research, Scholarship, and Creative Practice

September 2023

ACSA co-authors a joint statement responding to the Supreme Court’s decision regarding race-conscious admissions

The boards of directors of the four organizations representing university programs and educators in architecture, landscape architecture, planning, and interior design—ACSACELAACSP, and IDEC— jointly communicate our opposition to any legislation that prevents educators from teaching and sharing complete and accurate knowledge about the built environment for the purpose of shielding students from “divisive” or “disagreeable” content related to the impact of race and racism in American and global society, as well as other pedagogy related to gender and LGBTQ+ identities.

October 2023

The ACSA College of Distinguished Professors award 10 Faculty Travel Grants

The $2,000 USD grants are intended to support emerging faculty who are from historically marginalized backgrounds—specifically, Black, native/indigenous, and Latinx faculty, as well as LGBTQ+ faculty and faculty teaching at institutions identified as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI).

Grant funds are intended to cover a full registration to the conference, as well as transportation, lodging, and meals. Funds will be disbursed for the Administrators Conference in mid-October and for the Annual Meeting in December. The travel grants are made possible through funded contributions collected by ACSA’s College of Distinguished Professors and funds allocated by the ACSA Board of Directors.

The travel grants stem from a recognition that architectural education—and specifically, ACSA’s conferences— benefit from the inclusion of more faculty and students from systemically marginalized backgrounds. Academic conferences provide important sites for exchange of ideas and experiences among faculty. They also provide an opportunity for faculty to expand and deepen their network of colleagues. This helps faculty advance in the profession and creates opportunities for collaboration in research and teaching.

December 2023

The ACSA Research and Scholarship Committee opens applications for Public Scholarship focused on Climate Action

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) is establishing an extended training opportunity for faculty to expand the impact of their research and scholarship beyond the academy. ACSA is partnering with The Op-Ed Project and the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism to provide training and guidance on externalization strategies. This opportunity is for architecture faculty, whose research intersects with climate action or climate justice, and is intended to help them impact conversations that affect everyone.

March 2024

ACSA launches the Justice in Architecture website

This website was created as part of the first ACSA Fellowship to Advance Equity in Architecture. The page went online in the Spring 2024, initiated by Nathalie Frankowski and Cruz Garcia / WAI Architecture Think Tank, co-recipients of the fellowship, with the intent that the page is updated with scholarship, resources, and platforms that center questions and initiatives of social and ecological justice in architecture and related fields.

April 2024

The ACSA Education Committee publishes the ACSA Transfer Toolkit: Best Practices for Facilitating Community College Transfer

Community colleges are inherently positioned to foster accessibility in architecture by providing entry points for students who might otherwise lack opportunities to pursue architecture. Quite often, community colleges enroll larger percents of historically underrepresented students based on race and socioeconomic status. This document serves as the outcome of work initially begun at the ACSA 2023 Convening to Advance Community College Transfer and Articulation in Architectural Education and is intended to enhance community college transfer practices at receiving institutions.

ACSA Research

Kendall A. Nicholson, Ed.D., Assoc. AIA, NOMA
Senior Director of Research, Equity, and Education
202-785-2324
knicholson@acsa-arch.org