Call for Volunteers: ACSA Committees and Task Forces

The ACSA Board of Directors invites applications from faculty at full, candidate, and affiliate member schools to participate in 2024-2025 ACSA committees, task forces, and other activities. These appointments include ACSA’s three Program Committees, explained below.

Volunteer appointments are initiated by the 2024-2025 ACSA President, Cathi Ho Schar. Appointments are for one year beginning July 1, 2024, and are typically eligible for renewal thereafter. Individuals who responded to last year’s call will remain in the pool of candidates but may also send updated information.

Committees will work primarily through conference calls during the academic year. This year we plan to hold an in-person meeting of Program Committees. (Funding for travel will be provided by ACSA.) Committees have also convened at the Administrators Conference and Annual Meeting.

To Apply

You may apply on your own or have someone nominate you. In either case, you must include a volunteer cover sheet (click here to download) and submit it along with the following items in a single PDF:

• Cover letter that (a) indicates your engagement with, participation with, or contributions to ACSA and (b) addresses your potential to contribute to ACSA’s committees and strategic plan priorities, as outlined below (2 pages maximum).
• Current curriculum vitae highlighting relevant research, teaching, and service (2 pages maximum).

The deadline for candidates is May 8, 2024. Send the application to Abel Chanyalew, ACSA Membership Coordinator, achanyalew@acsa-arch.org, with the subject line ACSA Committee Application.

We encourage nominations from Black, Indigenous/Native, and people of color, as well as from individuals teaching at minority-serving institutions. ACSA seeks to include members from a range of backgrounds, including race/ethnicity, gender, school type, and teaching.

About Committee Opportunities

ACSA’s work is guided by its strategic plan, most recently revised by the board in 2021-22. The strategic plan elevates ACSA’s commitment to increase racial equity in architectural education and in the ACSA. The plan’s objectives also sharpen the organization’s focus on climate action by calling out the imperative to promote and disseminate more scholarship that contributes to efforts in architecture and design to mitigate the effects of climate change on local communities.

In 2024-25 ACSA will embark on a new strategic planning process to update our strategic plan for three to five years. Respondents to this call for volunteers may be considered for participation in the strategic planning process.

The ACSA board relies on three Program Committees to engage members and carry out the goals of the strategic plan through webinars, reports, surveys, recommendations to the board, etc. Charges for each of the Program Committees are included below.

• The Research & Scholarship Committee is charged with leading ACSA’s efforts to support faculty in scholarly endeavors; monitoring and assessing peer-review and recognition programs, and recommending actions to advocate for architectural scholarship. In 2024-25, the committee will continue its work from 2023-24 advancing scholarship around climate action and social justice by supporting the Academy for Public Scholarship in the Built Environment with the aim of developing our members’ capacity to disseminate the products of their work. The committee will also focus on developing resources and programming to help faculty with identifying funding sources, relationship-building with grantors, grant-writing, and collaboration.
• The Education Committee is charged with leading ACSA’s efforts to improve the effectiveness of architectural education through best practices and overseeing programs to cultivate and disseminate these best practices. In 2024-25, the committee will expand the community college conversations we have been having for the last four years by looking at the continuum of architectural education, across community colleges, four-year programs, accredited degree programs, and through AXP. The committee will examine the role and value of higher education across these different paths. The committee will also focus on opportunities for alignment, and transparency across these education paths to support informed and future-focused decision-making by students.
• The Leadership Committee is charged with leading ACSA’s efforts to support the strategic development of architecture programs; identifying and disseminating best-practice models of program leadership and administration, and overseeing ACSA’s efforts to promote awareness of architectural education. In 2024-25, the committee will focus on mental health and well-being for faculty and students, especially related to equity issues and conversations about service and burnout. The committee will examine these issues across faculty types, including lecturers, non-tenure track, tenured/tenure track, and administrative faculty in various roles.