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Mission Statement Founded in 1964, the college is among the largest of its type
in the nation. Annual Report
(20,878 KB) Jack Davis, FAIA. LEED John O. Browder, PhD Patrick Miller, PhD, FASLA, FCELA Robert Schubert Heather Riley Chadwick Maria Hixon Chriss Mattsson-Coon Christy Porterfield Liz Roberson Marty Simpson Vacant Wendy Vaughn Jan Wilson Schools Degrees Offered Master of Science in Building Construction Master of Arts Government & International Affairs
PhD
in Planning, Governance & Globalization PhD in Architecture & Design Research Numbers/stats Total approved research funding Outreach Mission Development National Rankings Design Intelligence rankings of programs in the School of Architecture + Design: Architecture, 10-year ranking 1* Architecture, undergraduate 2 Architecture, graduate 6 Industrial Design, undergraduate** 13 Interior Design, undergraduate 9 Interior Design, graduate 6 *Tied with Harvard, Yale, and Columbia **Education Portal, a web-based magazine, ranks the industrial design program #1 in the nation based on data from U.S. News and World Report. Urban Planning, graduate 7 Urban Planning, faculty publications 10 U.S. News and World Report rankings: Public Administration, graduate 12 Public Affairs 27 These high rankings have been instrumental in attracting exceptionally qualified students and faculty to CAUS. |
   WELCOME TO THE COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN STUDIES The School of Architecture + Design The highly competitive architecture program is creatively cross disciplinary. Top faculty teach entry-level classes and students make the large, open studios their second home away from home. The industrial design graduates are in demand establishing corporate identities, initiating new strategies, developing new products, and creating expanded markets. Interior design graduates are prepared to think critically and develop solutions that not only enhance quality of life, but also protect the health, safety, and welfare. Landscape architecture students not only graduate ready to go into private or public practice, they graduate with landscape architecture experience under their belts. In all four programs, ideas go from brain to page to life as students sketch, model, sculpt, and digitize, while surrounded by faculty and other students who encourage and critique, in this open-format, hands-on setting. The Myers-Lawson School of ConstructionA joint school with the College of Engineering, this school is the first of its kind. The blend of the two strong disciplines of building construction and civil engineering establishes a new standard for construction education and research. The program stresses ethics in the construction industry. Building Construction students benefit from seminars, field visits, and collaborations with firms in the construction and construction management fields. The School of Public and International Affairs Students in this school learn about government, public administration, international affairs, planning, public policy, and urban affairs. They go on to help individuals and communities across the world understand their most critical problems and most promising solutions. Students have the opportunity to visit communities, communicate with and assist citizens and community leaders, and work individually or in groups to come up with a variety of solutions. Often, their ideas are presented directly to the city or county government leaders. Graduates of this school provide the answers decision makers, from world leaders to grass roots organizations, need to set wise policies regarding the environment, development, transportation, social services, and more. The School of Visual Arts prepares undergraduates to enter visual design professions and graduate programs in the visual arts. The schools serves the public, regionally, nationally, and internationally through events, exhibitions, internships, competitions, workshops, and courses that nourish and renew the vitality of art and design leading innovation in art and design as it interfaces with technology. A goal of the school is to present the world with culture-enriching leaders, talented visual communicators, and innovative designers. The studies of art history, studio arts, and visual communication design lead to jobs in museums, auction houses, galleries, graphic design, computer animation, and more. Art and Art History’s VDS4 is the college’s professional design firm where student intern teams work on professional projects under the supervision of graphic design faculty. The XYZ gallery, at 221 N. Main St., is home to the Student Art Association, which operates its program of exhibitions by students and local artists.
Switzerland, Italy, Peru, Dominican Republic, and beyond... the College of Architecture and Urban Studies has a long history of being committed to making education abroad opportunities available to students. Programs in Europe and South America have enriched many a College of Architecture and Urban Studies student’s college experience. Some of the locations for these popular programs are:Riva San Vitale, SwitzerlandMany architecture students in the college choose to participate in a study abroad trip during their 4th and/or 5th years. The residency studio at the Virginia Tech Center for European Studies and Architecture is in Ticino, the Italian-speaking canton of Switzerland close to major northern Italian cities such as Milan.
Alexandria, VirginiaEach year, students enrolled in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban affairs and planning have the opportunity to study for a year in the national capital region at the college’s facilities in Alexandria. The center provides the perfect setting for studying in an urban environment, and offers an abundance of cultural and metropolitan experiences.
Chicago, IllinoisArchitecture students who participate in Chicago Studio, a NCARB-winning program, may find themselves sitting in a boardroom of a well-known firm looking out onto the city skyline from a 50th story window. These students work right alongside practicing architects. If the wind doesn’t blow them away, the experience surely will.
Big ProjectsStudents from architecture, industrial design, and landscape architecture created a solar house that won high honors at the 2005 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon and attracted praise from critics and attention from national media, including Popular Mechanics magazine, Dwell magazine, This Old House television program, and many more. Another project students worked on last year was the hit ABC show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Nearly 16 million viewers tuned in to see Virginia Tech students at work creating a new home for a Blacksburg resident in need.
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| last modified: 1/24/2007 | |