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NEWS
| JAN. 29
Architecture
School works to meet standards
A team will visit next spring
to evaluate the school and determine whether it will maintain its
provisional accreditation.
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| The Shorthorn: Brandon Wade |
| Lecturer Marc McCollom, a part-time
architecture instructor, talks to a drafting class Tuesday
afternoon. Underfunding and over-reliance on adjunct faculty
were cited as reasons for the school’s provisional
accreditation from a national review board. |
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by Brad
Rollins
Contributor to The Shorthorn
With about a year to go before a make-or-break visit from an accreditation
team, the School of Architecture is working to correct “serious
threats” to the program as detailed in a previous evaluation.
But the interim dean overseeing the efforts said he’s been
through the meticulous process before and is confident the school’s
improvement is on track and on schedule.
By June, a team will complete the first step — an updated Architecture
Program Report — in preparation for the visit, said Richard
Dodge, architecture’s temporary leader. The school will then
select members for the visiting team from the National Architectural
Accrediting Board in anticipation of next spring’s on-site
evaluation.
“It’s nothing to sweat,” said Dodge. “It’s
not that complicated — we just have to follow their guidelines.”
The school risks losing its provisional accreditation if it cannot
show sufficient improvement in multiple areas, including leadership,
curriculum and technology.
A routine five-year report in May 2001 faulted “complacent”
faculty and underfunding for frustrating efforts to improve curriculum
and integrate technology and practical applications into what it
said was an existing solid design program.
“It was troubling to the team that many of the concerns it
found had been noted by previous teams in both 1991 and 1995, and
there had been a lack of visible progress in addressing these concerns,”
the report said.
The team also noted an architecture constituency that does not reflect
the racial and gender makeup of the university community, a central
theme in former Dean Martha LaGess’ gender discrimination lawsuit
against the university.
Despite the controversy surrounding LaGess’ dismissal in August
after one year on the job, administrators say a multi-front effort
is addressing the accreditation board’s concerns:
• Funding — the top concern of the accrediting board —
is the factor least under the school’s control, Dodge said.
Nevertheless, he said faculty would address uncertainty in a year
of slashed budgets by “tightening their belts.”
“Budgets are budgets and are subject to all kinds of external
factors,” he said. “How much money you have is not the
issue; it’s what you do with it.”
The prior evaluation said funds were not equitably allocated among
the university’s schools and colleges and that the underfunding
“reduces opportunities for faculty and student enrichment”
in architecture.
• Practical application of architecture skills, particularly
the integration of new technology in the curriculum, is another
focus of improvement for the school. The addition of two new computer
labs on the Architecture Building’s third floor gives students
access to drafting programs vital to the profession.
Funded by the Office of Information Technology, the 40 flat-screen
Dell units are complemented by two teaching stations with projection
equipment as well as industry-standard printers and plotters.
The 2001 report said, “Lack of funds has caused the program
to lose ground in its effort to adequately address the technology
needs of a minimum architectural education.”
• Perhaps the largest question in addressing the accreditation
board’s concerns is the continued absence of a permanent dean.
The 2001 report said a lack of “overall leadership” was
problematic, and questions over whether LaGess did enough in her
short administration to ensure accreditation is cited in faculty
correspondence as a primary cause for their concern.
LaGess is seeking reinstatement as dean in her lawsuit pending in
a Tarrant County Court. Dodge said he expects a new dean to be installed
by September.
“The NAAB report has not been addressed or even considered
by the faculty or the dean,” professor Richard Ferrier wrote
in a July 17 letter to administrators. “If we do not plan a
strategy to deal with these issues immediately, our accreditation
status will be in serious jeopardy.”
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