Dear Alumni:

We had another great visit from an accrediting team from NAAB. The team visited in mid-March led by team chair David Cronrath, AIA, NCARB, who is dean of the College of Design at Louisiana State University.

Although we will not receive a final report and term of accreditation until July, we were told that we met 100 percent of the student performance criteria— the second consecutive visit that we have accomplished this rare feat. However, we did not meet three conditions— financial resources, human resources and human resource development.

All of these conditions are directly related to the financial support to the School, and it was not a surprise that we have not met these conditions. We continue to work on the financial health of the program through both fund raising as well as receiving our appropriate share of tuition dollars for operating expenses.

The team also noted that the Team Room display of student evidence was outstanding and the "best they have seen." This is due in large part to the hard work of Associate Professor Will Wittig and to the faculty and alumni who participate each semester in "mock team rooms," which are part of our ongoing assessment process.

In particular, Lonny Zimmerman, Robb Burroughs, Algis Bublys and Steve Sussman reviewed the Team Room about a week before the official visit and gave us a lot of suggestions for improving the accessibility of evidence. This review also helped immensely.

The alumni and faculty reception for the NAAB was attended by 75 people and impressed the team immensely. I want to thank the alumni who responded to my call for participation. The alumni show of work was also impressive, and thanks are due to alumni Dean Zoyes '94, and Lori Seit-Olsen '90, and faculty Amy Deines and Dan Pitera for organizing the show.

The accreditation visit was followed a month later by the annual alumni event where John Gallagher, the architectural writer for the Detroit Free Press, was the featured speaker. Over 120 people attended this event. As you can see, we had a busy couple of months.

I also want to make particular note that the Design Center is receiving an honor award for design from AIA Michigan and AIA New Orleans for a spectacular project in New Orleans— the St. Joseph Recovery Center (see story).

The work is so impressive that the donor has written a check for the Design Center to design and build a second phase to the project. Please look for this project on your AIA Michigan web site.

Finally, we start construction on the Peter Peirce Interactive Learning Center on the second floor of the building in May. Thanks to generous donations from Cherry Peirce, Warren Loranger, Paul Britten and other classmates of Peter, we are able to build this multi-purpose space in Peter's name to recognize his untimely death in the Lockerbie, Scotland plane disaster. The space will be used for small lectures, large seminars and for juries.

As we enter the relatively peaceful summer months, I reflect on a stressful but highly rewarding academic year and face a new academic year with enthusiasm. Have a good summer!

Sincerely,

Stephen Vogel, FAIA
Dean, School of Architecture