APR Architecture Program Report

Arkansas students have become Rhodes, Gates Cambridge, Madison, Marshall, Goldwater,Fulbright, Boren, Gilman and Truman scholars. Forty students have received National ScienceFoundation Graduate Research Fellowships, and Honors College enrollment--available toqualified Fay Jones School students--has increased by 17 percent since 2009 while maintainingan average ACT score of 31 and GPA of 4.0. All Honors College graduates engage inundergraduate research with faculty mentors. In spring 2013, 65 (12.5%) Fay Jones Schoolstudents were Honors College fellows, an increase of 14% above the previous academic year. Sotoo, the University provides extensive technical and professional services to varied groups andindividual throughout the state, helping to further Arkansas’s growth. The University of ArkansasCommunity Design Center (UACDC), a unit of the Fay Jones School under the direction ofDistinguished Professor of Architecture Stephen Luoni, is recognized as a “point of pride” amongthe University’s outreach endeavors.University Mission and VisionThe University’s mission statement reflects both its fidelity to the land grant tradition and a keenawareness of the evolving obligations of the public university both to create an accessible, yetchallenging environment for advancing knowledge through excellence in teaching and research,and contributing productively to the communities it serves.The mission of the University of Arkansas is to(1) provide an internationally competitive education for undergraduate andgraduate students in a wide spectrum of disciplines;(2) contribute new knowledge, economic development, basic and appliedresearch and creative activity; and(3) provide service to academic/professional disciplines and society, all aimed atfulfilling its public land-grant mission to serve Arkansas and beyond as apartner, resource, and catalyst.So too, the mission is conceived to support a larger vision:By 2021, the University of Arkansas will be recognized as one of the nation's top 50public research universities with nationally ranked departments and programsthroughout the institution.The Fay Jones School shares the university’s aspiration to attain national recognition and ispositioned well to support and to contribute to this larger vision.Architecture at the University of ArkansasThe Department of Architecture at the University of Arkansas traces its origin to two classes inarchitecture offered in the 1946-47 academic year; the following year, it became a five-yearprogram in architectural engineering in the College of Engineering. Soon after, in 1948, theprogram in architecture became a part of the College of Arts and Sciences. From the beginning,leading the nascent program was Professor John G. Williams, the first instructor in architecturewho taught the first classes. Considered the founder of our program, he also was the author of thefirst curriculum in architecture and, eventually, the first chair of the department, a capacity inwhich he served until 1966. The first degrees in architecture were conferred in 1950, and theprofessional degree in architecture first was accredited in 1958. It has been accreditedDepartment of Architecture Fay Jones School of Architecture Page 3

continuously since that time.E. Fay Jones was chosen to succeed Professor Williams as director of the architecture program in1966, and, in 1974, he was appointed the first dean of the newly established School ofArchitecture. For many years during this period, Ernie Jacks, (now Professor Emeritus), served asassistant dean and associate dean. In 1977, C. Murray Smart, (currently University ProfessorEmeritus), succeeded Jones. Dean Smart’s administration saw the addition of landscapearchitecture to the professional design programs of the school, and the creation of an internationalstudy program that has grown into the University of Arkansas Rome Center. Daniel Bennettsucceeded Dean Smart in 1991, establishing the University of Arkansas Community DesignCenter and extending our international reach with a summer program in Mexico City. JeffShannon was appointed interim dean in 2000, and, following a national search, named dean in2002. Dean Shannon’s legacy includes initiatives in diversity and strategic planning, the additionof the interior design program, formally housed in the College of Agriculture, to the school, andfacilities and resource planning that have resulted in the construction of the Steven L. AndersonDesign Center, a 34,320 square foot addition to Vol Walker Hall, which also benefitted fromrehabilitation and renewal. After 13 years of service to the School, Dean Shannon stepped downin May 2013, and Ethel Goodstein-Murphree, Associate Dean of the School since 2009, wasappointed Interim Dean by university provost Sharon Gaber. A national search for our next deancurrently is underway.Leadership of the architecture program has included department heads Steve Miller (1983),Geoffrey Baker (1984), Michael Buono (1986-92), David Buege (1992-2000), Jeff Shannon, whowas appointed to serve as interim head of the department in 2000 while also serving as interimdean, Patricia Kucker (2002-04), co-chairs Greg Herman and Steve Luoni (spring 2005), and Timde Noble (2005-09). Currently serving a six-year term as architecture department head isDistinguished Professor Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, appointed by Dean Jeff Shannon in August2009.The potential of the School to enrich and diversify its learning community has grown over thecourse of the last two decades with the creation of endowed chairs and professorships. In 1993,the School of Architecture honored its founder with the creation of an endowment, the John G.Williams Distinguished Professorship that brings leaders in the design professions to campus toteach, inspire and mentor students. In 1997, Peter Eisenman became the first John G. WilliamsDistinguished Professor, serving a second appointment to that position in 1998. Since then, theprofessorship has been held by a succession of distinguished practitioners including Chris Risher(2000), Brian MacKay-Lyons (2002), Julie Snow (2003), Richard Taransky (2004), Mexicanarchitect Javier Sanchez (2005), Brian Healy (2006), Nicole Weidemann (2007), Larry Scarpa(2008), Wendell Burnette (2009), Tom Kundig FAIA (2010), South African architect Peter Rich(2011), Vincent James, FAIA and Jennifer Yoss, FAIA (2012). Michael Rotundi will hold theprofessorship in spring 2014. The School’s first distinguished chair, the Steven L. AndersonChair in Architecture and Urban Studies, created by a 1996 with a gift from the Donald W.Reynolds Foundation, honors Steven L. Anderson, an architect and 1976 graduate of theUniversity of Arkansas School of Architecture who serves as president of the Donald W.Reynolds Foundation. The Steven L. Anderson Chair funds a full-time faculty member who isnationally respected in architecture and urban studies. David Glasser was the first recipient of theendowment; currently UACDC Director and Distinguished Professor Stephen Luoni holds thechair. In 1999, Don and Ellen Edmondson, former clients of Fay Jones, created an endowmentthat supports the Fay Jones Chair in Architecture, which has brought Dale Mulfinger, ColemanCoker, Eric Kahn, Randal Stout, Adam Gross, and David Buege to the campus. In 2007, in aneffort to challenge, participate and lead in the next evolution of building design and construction,Department of Architecture Fay Jones School of Architecture Page 4

the School of Architecture created the Twenty-First Century Chair in Integrated Practice; BradWorkman (B.Arch. '78), vice president of building and plant solutions for software firm BentleySystems Inc., was the inaugural holder of the Chair, which currently is held by full-time facultymember Assistant Professor Santiago Perez. In 2012, Associate Professor Tahar Messadi wasnamed the inaugural 21st Century Chair in Sustainability for the Fay Jones School of Architecture,a 1.5 million chair that is one of many endowed positions funded through a 300 million giftfrom the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation as part of the university’s Campaign forthe Twenty-First Century.The Fay Jones School of ArchitectureSince 2009, the School of Architecture is honored to bear the name of its most renowned graduate,Fay Jones (1921-2004). A member of the first graduating class of architecture students, inaddition to serving as the School’s first dean, Jones taught for 35 years while garnering aninternational reputation for soaring sacred spaces and houses that characterize an “Ozark modern”style. Among numerous accolades, none is more significant than the AIA Gold Medal, whichJones received in 1990. Thanks to a subsequent generous gift from Don and Ellen Edmondson,the school became the Fay Jones School of Architecture in 2009. The naming was celebrated withtwo days of commemorative events, including a symposium that featured Robert Ivy, RobertMcCarter, Roy Reed, and Glenn Murcutt.The Fay Jones School of Architecture is a multi-disciplinary school of design comprised ofcomplementary programs in Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design. Inaddition to the professional programs in architecture, landscape architecture and interior design,the school offers liberal studies programs, four-year pre-professional degrees in architecturalstudies and landscape architectural studies, that combine studio design education with innovativeteaching in history, theory, technology and urban design. In all of the school’s academic units,design instruction occurs in carefully planned studio sequences, providing educationalexperiences appropriate for students who wish to pursue both traditional and non-traditionalforms of professional practice. Fundamental principles and techniques of critical analysis arestressed, and the curriculum strives to empower students by developing skill, knowledge, and adeep sense of responsibility to the environment and to the cultures they will serve. Design studioprojects survey issues and opportunities in built and natural settings, as well as addressingcomplex social, physical, and cultural relations that constitute the human-made environment.Last year the Fay Jones School tied for first place in two different categories in the annual surveyof “America’s Best Architecture and Design Schools,” a study conducted by the Design FuturesCouncil and also published in the November/December 2012 issue of DesignIntelligence. Earningthe top spot for “Regional Respect and Admiration” and “Best Small School Design Program,”last year, the Fay Jones School was ranked 19th in the nation overall among undergraduateprograms.Mission and VisionWe are acutely aware that contemporary practice is a continually changing arena, subject totransformation in intelligent technologies, global economies, environmental conditions, and socialstructures. In response, the school strives to prepare its students with critical frameworks and,concomitantly, critical agility for design thinking that equips them to assume leadership roles inthe profession and in their communities. This perspective is reflected in the Fay Jones SchoolStrategic Plan, adopted and approved by the university in October 2011, that articulates themission and vision that frames the objectives of both the department of architecture, and thelarger school community of which it is an intrinsic part.Department of Architecture Fay Jones School of Architecture Page 5

Vision We are a professional design school providing excellence in teaching, researchand service within a vibrant intellectual community that generates an energy andpassion for great design, while nurturing the talent, intellectual agility, optimismand resourcefulness our students need to develop into the leaders in theirrespective design disciplines and in their communities.Core Values in Support of that Vision Extraordinary PerformanceWe expect extraordinary performance in teaching, research and service. Emerging IssuesWe believe that ongoing processes of curricular engagement with emergingprofessional and societal issues are crucial. Intellectual CommunityWe believe in the value of engendering an intellectual community, a stimulatingintellectual and creative atmosphere in which there is a shared sense of importantwork being done. Cultural and Environmental StewardshipWe believe that responsiveness to sustainability, including conservation of ourbuilt and natural resources, is fundamental to all we do. Diversity/InclusivenessWe value the enrichment that diversity in its many manifestations brings to thelearning environment. International StudyWe place great importance on international study experiences, especially those inwhich the students have an educational, social and cultural immersion in theplaces they study. Human WelfareWe value the development of environments that improve human welfare and thequality of the human experience for all segments of society.Mission Within the curricular context of an excellent professional design education, weprovide a vital school-wide design culture and educational environmentgrounded in critical design thinking, multidisciplinary collaborations and civicengagement.Department of Architecture Fay Jones School of Architecture Page 6

Activities, Initiatives, and the University SettingThe Fay Jones School and, particularly, its department of architecture contribute to the Universitymission through their academic offerings, public programming and outreach, professionalengagement, and service to the university and the community. With regard to academicprograming, learning experiences, and faculty development however, it is difficult to separate thenotion of the program’s contributions to the institution and the benefits derived to the programfrom its institutional setting, for we believe that all interdisciplinary endeavors cultivateproductive and mutually-beneficial exchange for both students and faculty from which both theprogram and the larger university community prosper.As our core values of cultural and environmental stewardship make clear, the Fay Jones Schooland its architecture program contribute significantly to the quality of the physical environment oncampus. Assistant Professor Manack represents the school, by appointment of the Chancellor, onthe campus Building Facilities Committee; Associate Professor Messadi, by appointment of theProvost, serves on the university Sustainability Council; Professor (former dean) Shannon andDistinguished Professor Luoni long have contributed to the Campus Master Plan Design ReviewBoard, and Professor (interim dean) Goodstein-Murphree was involved in the creation andadoption of a Campus Preservation Master Plan. With a view toward recognizing the role of art ininspiring learning and creating a sense of place, in 2009, Chancellor Gearhart commissioned apublic art oversight advisory committee; Associate Professor Laura Terry has contributed to thiscommittee since its inception. In parallel, The University of Arkansas Community Design Center,UACDC, an outreach enterprise of the Fay Jones School, is associated closely with thearchitecture program’s influence on the campus, in the community, and across the state, activelyproducing and publishing multi-disciplinary planning studies (with the participation of upperdivision architecture program students) that posit scenario plans for the university and itsenvirons, urban agriculture, and transportation planning.Through offering general education courses for the university core, (ARCH 1003, ArchitectureLecture; ARCH 1013, Diversity in Design), program faculty expose students in other academicdisciplines to the social, cultural, and technological meanings of architecture as well as provokeawareness of and responsibility for the made environment among a broad cross-section ofstudents; Basic Course in the Arts: Architecture Lecture (ARCH 1003) serves more than 100students each semester in face-to-face delivery with an additional 25-30 per semester enrolled inthe course online. Similarly, architecture faculty members (Dr. Sexton, Dr. Goodstein-Murphree)have contributed to the development of the Honors College’s “Honors Humanities Project”(HUMN 1114H, 1124H, 2114H, 2124H), team-teaching this four-semester world culturescurriculum with distinguished faculty from the Fulbright College. Under the leadership of Dr.Messadi, architecture contributes to the instruction of two required courses for the campus-widesustainability minor (SUST 1103, Foundations of Sustainability, and SUST 2103, Applications ofSustainability); conversely, architecture students engaged in the sustainability minor interfacewith a broad community of university faculty both to meet requirements of the minor and todevelop their required “capstone” projects.In addition to contributing to foundational learning experiences, upper level architecture electivesserve upper-level undergraduate students seeking multi-disciplinary perspectives for their ownfields of study. For example, architectural history electives routinely draw students from arthistory and classical studies, and, in parallel a significant community of architecture studentspursue minors in art history and criticism. Interdisciplinary courses, some of which have beensupported with funding from the honors college, have engaged purposefully the strongDepartment of Architecture Fay Jones School of Architecture Page 7

relationship between architectural history and the humanities, with Associate Professor Sexton’s“Medieval Bodies, Medieval Spaces,” team taught with history professor Dr. Coon, providing asolid paradigm for multi-disciplinary exchange. New areas of inquiry also invite productiveexchange between architecture faculty and campus colleagues in allied disciplines in theemerging areas of parametric design and thinking. Assistant Professor Perez, with funding fromthe Honors College, developed a teaching and research partnership with (former) computerscience and computer engineering faculty member Dr. Deaton that resulted in “ComputationalCraft,” a course in which students learned to code computer software to generate forms andpatterns, and to fabricate tangible works from these forms. Clinical Assistant ProfessorFitzpatrick currently is engaged in exploring similar conceptual frameworks in CAM Design(“Directed Readings: MATH 400V) with Dr. Edmund Harris, of the mathematics department wholeads the course for eight students of math, computer science, and architecture. The software theywrite for this class allows students to move directly from design to fabrication rather thantranslating their file into CADCAM software; the Math students are focused on parametricmodeling of geometry and topologies.Also with a view toward contributing to campus awareness of architecture as an aesthetic, social,technological and environmental fact of contemporary life, the Fay Jones School lecture series isopen to the public, and widely advertised electronically, including timely press releases on theuniversity’s “Arkansas Newswire” site.As the above-mentioned examples of exchange and collaboration with a broad spectrum ofuniversity partners indicate, the department benefits from the high standards for teaching,scholarship, creative practice and research, and civic engagement and service that are valued bythe university community. Furthermore, the Provost’s office has made clear that faculty areexpected to excel in both teaching and research/scholarship/creative practice, establishing aproductive climate for integrated scholarship from which all students as well as their facultiesbenefit. The recent flurry of building activity on campus, including the renaissance of VolWalker Hall, demonstrate the commitment of the administration

Architecture Program Report submitted to the National Architectural Accrediting Board by Department of Architecture Fay Jones School of Architecture . 4.2 Faculty Resumes 212 4.3 Visiting Team Report (VT