University of Maryland School of Architecture

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Maryland School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation

Established:	1964
Type:	Public
Dean:	Garth Rockcastle
Location:	College Park, Maryland, USA
Campus:	Suburban
Website:	http://www.arch.umd.edu/

The Maryland School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation at the University of Maryland, College Park is home of four leading academic disciplines of architecture, city planning, historic preservation, and real estate development, and the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education.

Located seven miles from downtown Washington, DC, home to the federal government and professional associations that guide the school's disciplines, makes the Maryland School of Architecture the logical choice for those committed to professional or academic careers in the built environment. The school is also in close proximity to Baltimore and Annapolis which provide contrasting examples of architecture, urbanism, history, local culture, and development patterns.

The school's core aim is to advance the leadership and effectiveness of the disciplines responsible for designing, planning, developing, and preserving the health and integrity of the physical environment. This is accomplished through integrated education programs, funded research and creative, and community and professional service.

1 History
2 Academic Programs
3 Faculty
4 Research Centers
5 See also

[edit] History

The school currently houses six programs: Architecture; Urban Studies and Planning; Historic Preservation; Real Estate Development; the Ph.D. program in Urban and Regional Planning; and the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education. Each of these entities has its own unique history, summarized below.

In response to several years of lobbying by the Maryland architectural community in the 1960s, the University invited the American Institute of Architects to help it form a committee to advise it on the establishment of an architectural school. The blue-ribbon committee recommended in 1964 that an architecture program be established and located at College Park. The committee outlined conditions that ensured excellence in professional architectural education.

In 1967, John Hill was appointed the first Dean of the School of Architecture, and the school opened its doors to students in the fall of that year. In the initial years of the architecture program, the curriculum was organized as a five-year B.Arch Degree program, with the intention that a graduate degree be initiated after the program was fully in place and accredited. The five-year format allowed the school to attract strong students and grow quickly in quality and breadth. From the beginning, the school was able to aim for excellence in its slide and library collections, and to attract outstanding leadership for those resources, as well as outstanding faculty.

In 1972, the school moved into its present building and gained full accreditation. During the next few years, the school continued to develop its program and expand its areas of research and service. It intensified its efforts to recruit students from a wider geographic and social constituency, to broaden the service and consultative roles of faculty and students, and add the Master of Architecture degree.

In 1970, the accredited Masters in Community Planning was established as part of the School of Social Work and Community Planning at the University of Maryland at Baltimore (UMAB). Community Planning was situated in Baltimore until 1988. In 1988, Ken Corey, the director of the Institute for Urban Studies at the College Park campus, and Mel Levin, director of Community Planning in Baltimore, engineered a transfer of the Community Planning program from Baltimore to College Park and a merger of the two programs. The three faculty members from UMAB joined with five faculty members at the Institute for Urban Studies at College Park to create a stronger consolidated urban planning program and a larger profile for urban education and research in the state. The newly configured Masters of Community Planning/Institute for Urban Studies program was located in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and offered a Masters in Community Planning and M.A. and B.A. degrees in Urban Studies. The planning program continues to offer seminars and an annual studio in Baltimore.

In 1980 selective admissions were instituted in the Architecture program, with students admitted to the pre-professional architecture program beginning in their junior collegiate years. The graduate professional degree program was fully accredited in 1985. The graduate program is a 3-1/2 year course of study for students with a prior undergraduate degree in a field other than architecture. Students with a B.S. Arch. or equivalent, enter the program with advanced standing and follow a two-year course of study.

As part of the 1992 campus reorganization, the decision was made to eliminate the M.A. and B.A. degrees in Urban Studies and move the accredited Masters of Community Planning Program from the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences to the School of Architecture. Resources were re-allocated to create a nationally recognized urban planning program in the School of Architecture. Since this reorganization, the urban planning program has grown in stature to graduate approximately 25 students per year, nine full-time faculty members, and become a top planning program in the U.S.

During the 1980s, David Fogle, an architecture faculty member with an interest in historic preservation, spearheaded the creation of a Certificate in Historic Preservation. A historic preservation certificate could be combined with masters in architecture, planning, or other related field to strengthen a student's knowledge of the historic preservation field. In 2001, a full master's degree in historic preservation (HISP) evolved out of the certificate program and was added to the School of Architecture's offerings. Since that time, HISP has grown into an established professional masters program graduating approximately 12 students per year. The School continues to offer its long-standing Certificate in Historic Preservation.

In 2000, the name of the School of Architecture was changed to the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation to reflect the school's increasingly diverse and complementary offerings.

The National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education was established in 2001 as a cooperative venture of four academic units: Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Public Policy, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Engineering. Headquartered in the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, the Center has become a national leader in research-based knowledge and education related to land use and growth management for Maryland and the nation. The interests of the Center are clearly shared by all of the programs in the school.

An important goal of the strategic plan of the school was the establishment of a doctoral program. In 2002, the school initiated the Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning and Design. The program admits a small number of Ph.D. candidates each year with interests related to the fields of urban design, social planning, urban policy, economic development, and transportation.

In 2006 a Masters program in Real Estate Development (MRED) was added to the school’s offerings, reflecting our vision of addressing the broad range of skills and knowledge important in creating viable, attractive and sustainable communities and cities. The real estate development program brings together planning, design, preservation and smart growth knowledge, research, and strategies in order to educate the next generation of real estate developers.

The school has clearly evolved into an academic center that is inclusive of the design, social, cultural, and environmental aspects of human environments. The school believes that physical design and social environment are interrelated, and that best practice and research should reflect this interconnectedness. All of the school's programs benefit from the collaborative environment and cross-disciplinary communication among the faculty and students of all the school's programs.

[edit] Academic Programs

[edit] Architecture

[edit] Urban Studies and Planning

[edit] Historic Preservation

[edit] Real Estate Development

The Masters of Real Estate Development program is a comprehensive, collaborative approach to Real Estate Development. This program tackles the broader educational task of engaging the full range of real estate development-from property acquisition to planning and permitting, law and finance, design and construction, and culminating in marketing, commercial leasing, property, portfolio and asset management.

Comprehensive and collaborative approach using traditional reading and research learning methods, as well as case study review, discussion, and practice methods, engaging the development community as partners in class and in the field.
Emphasis on strategic areas in sustainable development, adaptive reuse, public/private joint ventures, affordable housing, and senior and accessible housing.

In February 2008, a Baltimore developer and University of Maryland graduate donated $3 million to become the namesake of the real estate development program. [1] The gift from was the largest in the history of the School of Architecture. The program began in 2006 and graduated its first class in 2008. [2]

[edit] Doctoral

The Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning and Design is offered through the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. The Ph.D. program will prepare students to teach at the University level in departments of Urban Planning, Architecture, Historic Preservation, Landscape Architecture, or Real Estate Development and will qualify graduates to conduct research and participate in high level decision making in the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

This Ph.D. program builds on the University of Maryland's National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education and the faculty's community based work in Maryland, nationally and internationally. The faculty of the School is involved with the State of Maryland on issues of land use planning and future patterns of urban development, with local communities to address issues of education reform, economic development, housing stabilization and revitalization, and urban design; and with foreign governments on issues of urban development and planning. This on-going research and education provides a rich intellectual environment for students pursuing a Ph.D.'s in urban and regional planning and design.