Academics in the Spotlight: School of Architecture

The School of Architecture, founded in 1983, offers accredited professional undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture and post-graduate degrees in urban design and real estate development. Continuing its topical emphasis on new urbanism, vernacular and classical architecture, and 20th century and contemporary modernism, the School has expanded its focus to several new areas. These include: health and the built environment, with health care design studios and courses and a continuing research partnership with faculty in the Miller School of Medicine; tropical and subtropical coastal design, building on faculty experience in locations such as Santo Domingo, Mumbai, Cape Town and Barranquilla; the new Master of Real Estate Development and Urbanism (MRED+U), an interdisciplinary one-year graduate program engaging faculty from the Schools of Business Administration and Law as well as Architecture; and the new Certificate in Historic Preservation, this year supporting faculty and students in research and documentation of the Miami Marine Stadium, a National Trust for Historic Preservation endangered site.

The Center for Urban and Community Design (CUCD), the School's outreach program, provides students with hands on experience in community improvement nationally and internationally. More than half of enrolled students participate in study-abroad programs in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean basin, and Latin America. The School sponsors fall, spring and summer semester programs in Rome, located in our new Rome Center, providing an intensive experience in design, theory, and history of architecture. Facilities at the School include studio workspace for each student, an architecture reference library linked to university-wide resources, the New Urbanism Archive, a computer laboratory, a model shop, and the Jorge M. Perez Architecture Center housing Glasgow Hall and the Korach Architecture Gallery.

At present, the School of Architecture enrollment includes 304 undergraduate students and 67 graduate students. The faculty is comprised of 30 full-time faculty and 33 part-time faculty; and is complemented by visiting critics and lecturers from the professional architecture community worldwide. The School's administration includes Professor Denis Hector, Associate Dean; Professor Rocco Ceo, director of undergraduate studies; and Jean Francois Lejeune, director of graduate studies. Architect and town planner Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, a long time UM faculty member, continues as Distinguished Professor and Dean of the School.

For more information on the School of Architecture, please visit their website at http://www.arc.miami.edu/.

Photo Captions:
Arch School Perez Center: The four-year-old Jorge M. Perez Architecture Center includes the Glasgow lecture hall and the Korach Exhibition Gallery. Both areas are extensively used for student classes and reviews as well as community lectures and programs.

Arch Dean with Students: School of Architecture Distinguished Professor and Dean Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk teaches in one of the School's studios.