040201 Bachelor of Architecture
040201
Master of Architecture
The Department of Architecture challenges and enables its members and collaborators to surpass their own expectations as they advance the quality of the built and natural environment.
The Department of Architecture furthers the College's mission by providing professional education, and fostering the development and dissemination of knowledge among its majors and those of allied disciplines. The Department of Architecture furthers the university's mission by providing diverse and exemplary career, academic preparation and general education for its students. The department is active in international programs with student and faculty exchanges in England, Finland, Australia, France, and China; study abroad programs in Italy and Prague; and summer study tours to Japan.
A specific way that the department contributes to the state's economy, health, safety, and welfare has been to provide graduates who are responsible for directing the construction and renovations of schools, housing, facilities for aging, and public buildings. Over $100 billion dollars of new construction in Kansas is anticipated over the next 50 years. Through its nationally recognized expertise in energy conservation and sustainable architecture, the department provides research and leadership for the profession and Kansas communities on improved building design strategies that are less reliant on fossil fuel technology.
The department is staffed with 20 tenured faculty, 2 untenured faculty, 5 supplemental faculty, and 15 GTAs. Two of the instructional faculty hold half time administrative positions in the college--Head of Center for Aging and one as director of the College's Study Abroad Program.
Faculty members in the Department of Architecture have won five consecutive outstanding teacher awards in the college, four National ACSA Teaching Awards, the first National ACSA Collaborative Practice Award. Faculty members of the Department of Architecture have had over 100 scholarly publications or presentations in the past two years.
Faculty in the Department of Architecture are leaders in professional societies. One regular faculty and one emeritus are fellows of the American Institute of Architects (AIA.) A faculty member of the department will be the Inaugural Fellow at the National Museum of Building, in Washington D.C.
The Department of Architecture has an on-going process of external and self-evaluation. The Bachelor of Architecture program is judged excellent in its conception and its execution by all measures. The 2000 NAAB Visiting Team report called the program "outstanding".
Demand for professional architecture programs, and for Kansas State programs especially, is high. Admission to the second year programs in the college is competitive for a limited number of seats. For the past three years the department has experienced a total enrollment 10% above its cap. Applications to the program typically exceed admissions by 20-25%. The minimum GPA for students accepted for the second year program for fall 2001 was 2.90.
Kansas State architecture students have an exemplary record for winning national and international competitions, including the US's most prestigious undergraduate student award B the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Traveling Fellowship (SOM) Graduating students have won seven SOM's since 1991. This is more than any other undergraduate program in the country! K-State architecture students have competed for and won Rampft Scholarships, national and regional AIA scholarships.
Regional and national employers actively recruit graduates of the Department of Architecture. In a 1999 survey of the top 150 of architectural firms the K-State architecture program was selected as one the top ten accredited architecture programs in the nation for the quality of the graduates. Students have an exceptionally high rate of success on the professional licensing exam. Graduates of the program regularly gain admission to the most prestigious graduate schools. Graduates of the Bachelor and Masters program are increasingly filling faculty positions at universities such as the University of Kansas, Georgia Tech, University of Tel Aviv, University of Costa Rica and universities in India and Great Britain.
The department participates in the multi-disciplinary, Galichia Center on Aging. The department has had active partnerships with the Manhattan public school system, Manhattan Arts Center, Strecker-Nelson Gallery, the Marianna Kestler Beach Museum, Hale Library, K-State Union, WRS Gallery (KC), AIA KC Offices, UMKC, KU, Nebraska, and Arkansas for exhibitions of student, faculty and visiting shows.
In response to a range of program issues, national economic trends and student demographic changes, including enrollment decline, the department has taken several steps to strengthen the Master of Architecture Program:
The department is working diligently to achieve the minimum enrollment and graduation expectations within three years.
Data prepared by Planning and Analysis show the Department is cost effective in all of it's programs even though it is studio-based curriculum. The balance of studio, seminar and large lecture courses means the department has the lowest cost per credit hour in the college and very nearly equals the university average. The department contributes faculty, graduate assistants and teaching fellows to the Environmental Design Studies program, which serves students in the college as well as students in Human Ecology and Engineering. Building Science, Structures I and II, Environmental Systems I, II and III and Building Construction Systems I and II (a total of 25 cr. hrs) are taken by all of the Interior Architecture students. The Department offers Appreciation of Architecture to the university population with an enrollment over 250 each semester. Landscape Architecture and Architecture graduate students participate in the same classes, LAR 898, Proposal Writing and ARCH 725 Research Methods. Graduate thesis committees draw upon all graduate faculty in the college. The Department coordinates with the Department of Landscape Architecture/RCP and Department of Interior Architecture to offer an upper-level interdisciplinary studio that focuses on planning and design issues facing a Kansas community.
040501 Interior Architecture
The Department of Interior Architecture is committed to providing a high quality and comprehensive learning environment where graduates become literate, ethical and creative professionals. The Department maintains a diverse faculty and student population, which lead to graduates that are responsive to the professional design environment and societal change. The program is based upon sound marketplace evaluation, professional responsibility, personal integrity, and a constant quest for excellence in physical and technical facilities. Interior Architecture is only one of two Foundation for Interior Design Education and Research (FIDER) accredited programs in the State of Kansas and that accreditation is required for licensing of interiors professionals.
The Bachelor of Interior Architecture offered by Kansas State University is only one of three original programs offered nation-wide, though the trend is for programs of interior design to move into colleges of architecture and adopt the name interior architecture. What distinguishes K-State= from these other programs are the quantity of technical courses, the architecture-based courses, product design and furniture design components. The department is unique in that it is also accredited by National Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) for its product design track.
The department has a department head that is part time administrator and part-time instructor. There are 11.57 FTE faculty. Twelve are tenured or tenure-track, 1 is non-tenured and 2 are supplemental. These figures include one person who is an emeritus faculty member. The department has a classified administrative assistant who also serves as an advisor to 125 students. Two faculty are members of the Graduate Faculty. Six faculty are members of professional organizations and/or hold a professional license. Excellence of the interior architecture program is measured by peer associations, student award achievements, and the demand for its graduates. The outstanding and highly qualified faculty has diverse professional expertise. This allows the department to provide students with an extensive and broad-based education. Another means of self-evaluation is the feedback from communities in Kansas and the region that the department has served. For example, one of the interior architecture faculty who has consistently been involved with community preservation projects has received the Governor's Award for service to Kansas Communities.
Interior architecture faculty members contribute to academic scholarship in the preparation of papers and presentations for professional organizations, educational organizations, and community organizations. Three members of the faculty are registered architects.
Over the past thirty years students in the Department of Interior Architecture have entered over three hundred furniture projects selected as national finalist entries and exhibited in the International Woodworking Fair Student Furniture Design Competition held first in Louisville, Kentucky, and currently in Atlanta, Georgia. The interior architecture students have won 62 national furniture design awards in this competition and four ABest of Show@ awards.
In space planning competitions the interior architecture students have won 42 national design awards including competitions sponsored by many organizations. The product design students have won 22 national and international awards from competitions sponsored by many organizations.
Graduates from the interior architecture program have multiple job offers and are immediately employed at salaries exceeding industry standards in the profession. Every student from the class of 2000 has a job.
The department participates in the interdisciplinary first year environmental design program, which serves students from four disciplines. The 5th year provides an opportunity for students and faculty to participate in an interdisciplinary studio with students from all three departments within the college. Several of the IA faculty provide intercession courses that are open to students from the entire campus. Many of the Interior Architecture faculty involve students in service projects with the state of Kansas and the Midwest region through their studio work with community and not-for-profit organizations.
The cost effectiveness of the interior architecture program shows that each interior architecture faculty member teaches more courses per semester and has a higher contact teaching load than their colleagues in the College. The Kansas State University interior architecture faculty contact load was 21.54 per week per semester in Fall 2000 which is far above the national average for other FIDER accredited programs which recommends 18 contact hours. The Department of Interior Architecture provides the faculty responsible for teaching the Graphics I and II service courses that are taken as required courses by the Department of Architectural Engineering / Construction Science and Management. Students in architecture and interior architecture take the same building science, structures I and II, and environmental systems I, II and III courses; eliminating duplication of effort with these courses. Currently the Department of Interior Architecture does not offer any graduate degree, but the fifth year of the program does provide the opportunity for entry-level graduate courses in facility management, product design, furniture design and advanced furniture workshop, professional practice and the I.A. seminar course.
040301 Community and Regional Planning: Accredited MRCP Program
049999 Environmental Planning and Management: Non-Accredited Program
040601 Landscape Architecture: Accredited BLA and MLA Programs
The Department's faculty are committed to providing opportunities for students to learn and practice critical skills that will aid them in designing and managing the world we occupy. The faculty strive to educate students so they can bring diverse perspectives, creative insights, analytical, technical and collaborative skills, and an appreciation of the designed, natural, and political environments to local neighborhoods, communities, and regions. The issues that concern the faculty focus on the sustainable use of land, fiscal and natural resources, and the retention and building of community. Students are educated to become professional leaders and participants in public life, helping to bring balance to the often-conflicting objectives of resource stewardship and community development.
A diverse and nationally recognized faculty are involved with education, service, scholarly and creative activities in community and landscape planning, design and management. The three professionally accredited programs advocate the importance of the natural and built place within the larger context of public policy.
Graduates are presented with a broad-based education providing them with the necessary skills, knowledge and life-long learning capabilities to creatively participate in problem solving activities related to the planning and design for sustainable communities. This is evidenced by having won four times the number of national design awards than any other program in the country. The Department also has the distinction of offering the only professional degrees in Landscape Architecture in the State of Kansas.
The Department has 21 full and part-time faculty. With the exception of a recent faculty hire in the Spring Semester 2000 and one faculty who is an artist, all other faculty are members of the Graduate Faculty. There are 15 landscape architecture faculty serving the BLA and MLA degrees equating to 12.45 FTE teaching faculty. The landscape architecture faculty teach 45 courses, providing 231 contact hours averaging 18.55 FTE. There were 690 students involved with these courses averaging 111.17 FTE. There are 6 faculty assigned to the Master of Regional and Community Planning Program with 5.5 FTE teaching faculty. The planning faculty teaches 16 courses, providing 40 contact hours averaging 7.27 FTE. There were 310 students involved with these courses averaging 153.64 FTE.
The Department's faculty are highly motivated and enthusiastic individuals who are widely recognized throughout their respective professional communities. Historically, the faculty has as their primary goal "excellence in teaching". The faculty, with few exceptions, have all practiced professionally and bring a professional practice knowledge and experience to their classes and studio environments. Each faculty member has an identified area of scholarship which complements and supports their teaching advocacy. Grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Kansas Water Department, Environmental Protection Agency in conjunction with the K-State Hazardous Substance Research Center, Prairie Gateway Conference Grant, HUD Work Study Grant, Master Planning Grant for Botanica, Wichita, KS, K-State Community Service Program Learn and Serve Grant and the K-State GIS Tree Inventory, are just a few of the funded research and service projects with which the faculty are involved.
The Bachelor and Master's Programs in Landscape Architecture and the Master of Regional and Community Planning Program maintain their national accreditation status. The Master of Arts in Environmental Planning and Management is a non-accredited degree program.
Of the 44 first-year students who enrolled for the Fall Semester 2001 in the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture Program, 74% have a 3.0 GPA, with 31% having a grade point of 3.5 and above. The minimum GPA for entry to the BLA program was set at 2.5 for Fall Semester 2001. The Twenty-Six Week Off-Campus Internship Program is an opportunity for students to work in a professional office under the mentorship of a licensed landscape architect. The office is required to incorporate the student into its daily activities including meeting with clients, attending public presentations and critiquing the student's work.
Students seeking a second career characterize the typical student enrolled in the MLA program. These students bring diverse backgrounds from their undergrad/graduate educational and work experiences to the study of landscape architecture. All MLA students are required to complete a thesis, thereby contributing to and advancing the knowledge base of landscape architecture.
The MRCP Program has a more varied student population with high percentage of international students. (Fall Semester 2000, 43 % of MRCP students were international.) Students have an option of either completing a Masters Report/Thesis or taking the comprehensive examination and doing a Specialization Paper during the last semester in residence to fulfill the requirements for the MRCP degree.
All students are employed prior to or immediately upon graduation. The American Society of Landscape Architects has formally requested that each landscape architecture program develop plans for doubling their graduation rates. This request is made based upon position openings which can=t be filled due to the present national graduation rates and the expected replacement rates from the increase in retirements by the "baby boomer" population. Graduates from all of the programs are receiving salary offer ranging from $30,000 to $40,000.
For the Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning, the landscape architecture faculty (12.9 FTE) averages 17.56 contact hours per week. The Planning Program (5.25 FTE) averages 6.38 contact hours per week. The landscape architecture/regional and community planning programs each average133 student credit hours. The remainder of a faculty member's time is designated for research, student mentoring and community service activities. This is appropriate related to other nationally accredited landscape architecture and planning programs.
The Department of Landscape Architecture and Department of Regional and Community Planning merged in 1993 to form the Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning. This resulted in consolidating administrative office space and personnel as well as enhanced faculty and student exchanges between the two programs. All departments within the College of Architecture, Planning, and Design share responsibilities and resources to teach first-year students in the Environmental Design Studies Program. The Department offers two courses, to the university population, LAR 322, Environmental Issues and Ethics and PLAN 315, Introduction to Planning. Both courses have enrollments of over 100 students. At the graduate level, Landscape Architecture and Architecture students participate in the same classes, LAR 898, Proposal Writing and ARCH 725, Research Methods. The Landscape Architecture's program's combining the teaching of MLA proficiency courses with undergraduate courses requiring the same instructional material also demonstrates teaching efficiencies.