Diversity Resources

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The ACSA Board of Directors resolves to make increasing diversity in ACSA member schools a visible and continuing set of conversations and actions in 2008-09. The issue of diversity in the academy and the profession encompasses a range of complex, interrelated issues, but the time for action to increase the inclusion of underrepresented groups is now.

ACSA can support schools in their efforts to have a diverse student body and increase diversity among faculty who are able to effectively mentor all students to pursue varied careers in architecture.

The following actions are proposed:

1. Invite schools to submit their diversity plans and publish a summary document, in addition to those plans, on the ACSA website.
2. Create a forum on the website and at ACSA conferences through which ACSA members can share practices in recruiting and retaining underrepresented students and faculty.
3. Explore to strategies to understand categories of under-representation and develop understanding of the evolving dimensions of diversity.
4. Work with the NAAB to collect accurate data on faculty and student demographics from 100% of accredited and candidate schools by encouraging schools to participate.
5. Work with NAAB to assure that all ACSA schools submit diversity data as part of the required annual statistical reports.
6. Initiate a process to review 2007 NAAB statistical data, included in the AIA Gateway Diversity Action Plan, as a baseline for measuring the progress of ACSA schools, and make this progress visibly accountable over a period of years.

• ACSANews September 2009
  Designing Diversity
  by Brian Kelly, University of Maryland, School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation
• ACSANews October 2009
  Inclusive Excellence: Achieving Diversity at MIT School of Architecture and Planning
  by Dr. Robbin N. Chapman, Manager of Diversity Recruitment, MIT School of Architecture and Planning
• ACSANews November 2009
  Community Colleges and Branch Campuses: Alternative Models
  by Geraldine Forbes Isais, Director, Architecture Program, University of New Mexico
• ACSANews December 2009 
  Networking Diversity
  by Mabel O. Wilson, Director, Design Leadership Project, Associate Professor, Columbia University
• ACSANews January 2010 
  Blurring Boundaries: Borrowing Diversity
  by Gregory Marinic, CUNY, New York City College of Technology
• ACSANews February 2010 
  Diversity: The New Sound
  by Brett Roeth, Vice President, American Institute of Architecture Students
• ACSANews March 2010 
  Veiled Diversities
  by Brian Kelly, University of Maryland, School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation
• ACSANews April 2010 
  ACSA Women’s Leadership Council
  Frances Bronet, University of Oregon and Judith Sheine, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
• ACSANews May 2010 
  Polishing the Mirror, Tending the Lamp
  by Brian Kelly, University of Maryland, School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation

Designing for Diversity
Panel Session, 2009 ACSA National Meeting, Portland, OR
ACSA is committed to improving diversity in its member schools by developing information about best practices that are emerging nation-wide. The purpose of this session will be to highlight programs and initiatives at ACSA member schools that have had significant impact on diversity by creating a climate of inclusiveness, respect, and civility. The session will focus on actions that work, programs that have transformed the academic landscape, and initiatives that have demonstrated success.

LGBT Breakfast Meeting
2009 ACSA National Meeting, Portland, OR
An open invitation to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) colleagues, as well as other ACSA members, to discuss issues that commonly impact the LGBT community in academia and the profession. This informal gathering should provide an opportunity to exchange views on issues including tenure and promotion, workplace issues, partner benefits and mentoring as they pertain to the LGBT community.

Women’s Leadership Council
2009 ACSA National Meeting, Portland, OR
This session will discuss issues that affect women faculty. We will focus on three types of faculty: those at non-tenure granting institutions; tenure-track faculty; and tenured faculty who are seeking promotion or administrative positions. The session will open with brief introductory remarks by invited panelists, followed by facilitated break-out sessions for the three groups, and end on a discussion focusing on the development of action items. Later in the evening, there will also be a WLC reception, sponsored by the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, which will allow for more informal discussion.

Design and Diversity
Panel Session, 2008 ACSA Administrator’s Conference, Savannah, GA
ACSA has committed to addressing the evolving nature of diversity in academia and in the architecture profession. In 1968, Whitney Young challenged the American Institute of Architects with his words, “…as a profession, you are not a profession that has distinguished itself by your social and civic contributions to the cause of civil rights, and I am sure this has not come to you as any shock. You are most distinguished by your thunderous silence and your complete irrelevance.” (20 on 20/20 Vision, Perspectives on Design and Diversity, AIA Diversity Committee and Boston Society of Architects, 2003) How far have we come since 1968? Are we still stalked by the sobering challenges that echo from Whitney Young’s speech made over forty years ago? This panel will engage evolving definitions of diversity, civility, inclusion, equity, and respect that challenge academia and the profession as it moves into the 21st century.

Adams, Annmarie and Peta Tancred, Designing Women: Gender and the Architecture Profession.  Toronto: University of Toronto Press.  © 2000.

Anthony, Kathryn H. Designing for Diversity: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Architectural Profession.  Urbana and Chicago: The University of Illinois Press.  © 2001.

Kiisk, Linda, AIA, Ed, with Ted Landsmark, Esq., Associate AIA, 20 on 20/20 Vision: Perspectives on Diversity and Design.  AIA Diversity Committee and Boston Society of Architects 2003.

• 25 Steps to Diversity
• AIAS Diversity Handbook
• Directory of African American Architects
• Diversity and the AIA
• National Organization of Minority Architects

Face of the AIA (series by by Stephen A. Kliment, FAIA Contributing Editor), from AIArchitect:

• “The Trailblazers” November 10, 2006
• “Diversity, What the Numbers Tell Us” October 13, 2006
• “Three Contemporary Star Architects” December 22, 2006
• “Making Partner in the Majority-Owned Practice” January 26, 2007
• “Young African American Women Architects Sharpen Ties to Their Communities” February 23, 2007
• “Diversity: The Educators” March 30, 2007

Other Articles from AIArchitect:

• McEntee, Chris, “I’m Listening: Grassroots Town Hall (Part 2),” AIArchitect, March 2006
• Ostroff, Tracy, “Demographic Data Analysis Affirms Anecdote and Perception,” AIArchitect, February 2006
• Ostroff, Tracy, “Dr. Sharon Sutton, FAIA: Diversity Matters, Grassroots keynote speaker asks AIA leaders to “relentlessly question” diversity practices.” AIArchitect, February 2006

Robert Robinson Taylor (June 8, 1868 – 1942) was an American architect; by some accounts the first African American Architect in the United States. Taylor enrolled at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1888, the first African American student at MIT, and was associated with Tuskegee University once called Tuskegee Institute, designing most of the buildings on campus completed prior to 1932, and even serving as second-in-command to Tuskegee’s founder and first President, Dr. Booker T. Washington. He died while attending services at the Tuskegee Chapel, a building he considered his finest achievement. (from Wikipedia)

ROBERT R. TAYLOR AWARD
Robert R. Taylor Grants for Faculty Development: To promote and increase exposure of architecture students to a more diverse range of architectural curricula and practice through faculty development.

1999-00
Barbara L. Allen, University of Southwestern Louisiana
Andrew Chin, Florida A&M University
Theodore Trent Green, University of South Florida
Ralph B. Johnson, Florida Atlantic University
Kim Tanzer, University of Florida

2000-01
Sandra I. Vivanco, California College of Arts & Crafts
Sheryl Tucker de Vazquez, Tulane University

2001-02
Lynn Paxson, AIA Iowa State University

2002-03
Daniel J. Glenn, Montana State University

ROBERT R. TAYLOR CERTIFICATE
Robert R. Taylor Program Development Certificate of Recognition: To recognize the work of faculty, administrators, or students in creating effective methods and models to achieve greater diversity in curricula, school personnel, and student bodies, specifically to incorporate the participation and contributions of historically under-represented groups or contexts.

2000-01
Carlos F. Casuscelli, Ball State University
Teddy Cruz, Woodbury University, San Diego

2001-02
Lynn Paxson, AIA Iowa State University

2002-03
Dana Buntrock, University of California, Berkeley
Daniel J. Glenn, Montana State University
Joongsub Kim, PH.D., AIA, AICP,Lawrence Technological University
Paula Lupkinm PH.D., Washington University in St. Louis
Beth Tauke, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York