Program Overview

Aims of Graduate Education

A major purpose of graduate education at the University of Minnesota is to instill in each student an understanding of and capacity for scholarship, independent judgment, academic rigor, and intellectual honesty. Graduate education is an opportunity for the student to develop into a professional scholar. Graduate research and teaching assistantships offer an apprenticeship experience in the academic profession as well as financial support. It is the joint responsibility of faculty and graduate students to work together to foster these ends through relationships that encourage freedom of inquiry, demonstrate personal and professional integrity, and foster mutual respect. This shared responsibility with faculty extends to all of the endeavors of graduate students, as students, employees, and members of the larger academic community.

High quality graduate education depends on the professional and ethical conduct of the participants. Faculty and graduate students have complementary responsibilities in the maintenance of academic standards and the creation of high quality graduate programs. Excellence in graduate education is achieved when both faculty and students are highly motivated, possess the academic and professional backgrounds necessary to perform at the highest level, and are sincere in their desire to see each other succeed.

Architectural Aims

Architecture is a social art. As professionals, architects develop a constructive balance and creative synthesis in the discourse between the individual and the community, between private economic interests and the common good, and between the natural, the social, and the technological. This requires a comprehensive education with a thorough understanding of the cultural, political, economic, ecological, and technological forces that shape our built environment.

As a discipline, architecture draws heavily from the thought and ideas of the arts, the humanities, and the social and natural sciences to guide its theoretical explorations and practice. But, more than an amalgam of other fields, architecture is a discipline in its own right, with its own modes of thought, knowledge base, and operation. The complex task of planning and creating environments of cultural, sustainable and technological integrity demands distinct modes of thinking and reasoning. The design process thus fuses imagination and logic, creative exploration and systematic inquiry.

As a profession, architecture has a responsibility to serve society. The profession's ethical obligations form an arc that encompasses a respect for our inheritance from the past, a commitment to improve the quality of life in the present, and a dedication to produce a sustainable environment for the future.

The School of Architecture

Established in 1913, the University of Minnesota School of Architecture is among the oldest architecture programs in the United States. The School maintains a strong faculty composed of academics, practicing architects and visiting faculty that offers a comprehensive professional education with distinctive studio opportunities and excellent support facilities situated in a top research university and a vibrant metropolitan area. Over its first century, the collective impact and achievements of the School of Architecture have been both significant and extensive, and we continue to build a vibrant legacy.

Organization. The School of Architecture is organized around an undergraduate program with approximately 400 students and a graduate program with approximately 100 students. The faculty have a range of backgrounds in architecture and related fields, and include architects, historians, planners, theorists/critics, and engineers. In addition to resident teaching functions, the School is closely affiliated with the Center of Sustainable Building Research (CSBR) and the Minnesota Design Center (MDC).

Mission. The School of Architecture's mission is to advance architectural knowledge and creative practice through design-centered teaching and research and to foster a dynamic dialogue between architecture's identity as a discipline and a profession. The School is invested in design grounded in critical representation (materials and media literacy, or drawing and making as a way of thinking) and social engagement (ethically motivated work that strives to make the world a better place). These aims grow out of the strong reputation of the School as a place where students learn how to draw and build competently, and from the State of Minnesota's history of social progressiveness and humanitarianism. They reflect both what we have been and what, in 21st century terms, we aspire to be.

The College of Design

The College of Design was created in 2006 in response to the University of Minnesota’s Strategic Positioning agenda. The College of Design is composed of the School of Architecture; the Department of Landscape Architecture; and the Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel. Common values infuse the college’s mission, which is to advance the following through research, education, and public engagement: