Dear Alumni:

We entered the Fall Term with the largest enrollment of students in Architecture ever—280 students—which is actually above capacity. What is even more important is the quality of the students, whose ACT scores average above 27.  This quality is evident in the classroom and in the studio where the work is outstanding. I am teaching Architectural History 1 this year because Associate Professor of History Sarah Stever is on sabbatical this year and have found the test scores higher by far than in the prior ten years I taught the course!  This bodes well for the reputation of the School and our ability to continue to attract top-notch students to the program.

In addition to the Architecture program, we now have two interdisciplinary programs administered by the School of Architecture—the Master of Community Development and the undergraduate Digital Media Studies Program.  The latter program is new to the School this fall and was moved from the College of Liberal Arts & Education. In addition to four of our faculty teaching in the program, there are faculty from English, Communication Studies, Business and others. Among a wide range of courses, students take digital design studios, graphic design, web design and videography.  It provides a good alternative for those who decide not to continue in Architecture.  These programs are growing and between them currently have over 30 students.  Because of this, and enrollment in general, Architecture now operates as a net contributor to the University as a whole—a position that our strategic plan has been focused on for the past ten years.

Thanks to the generous support of many of you, the Lecture Series is once again funded for five lectures.  The highlighted lecture this year will be the heavily published David Adjaye, an African architect from London, England.  We will host a NOMA reception and book signing prior to his lecture, March 26.  He has just published his third book, this one on public buildings, and was recently featured in Architectural Record for interiors.

In an emotional all-School meeting, we awarded the first Paul Reehil Memorial Scholarship to fourth-year student Brittany DesRochers. We have also received verbal confirmation of funding for one additional scholarship, raising the number of endowed scholarships to six.  This is a great way for firms or individuals to support the students and the high cost of private education. If you are interested in pursuing a named scholarship, please contact the School's Development Director Enid Grauer at 313-993-1548.

Faculty continue to excel and bring distinction to the School. We had four faculty selected to present papers at the ACSA Central Regional Conference at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee—the most represented school at the conference.   There is not enough space to indicate all the great work the faculty is doing—maybe next issue we can devote more space to this.  Stop by!

Stephen Vogel, '70, '75, FAIA
Dean