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Architecture Reorganizes Around the M.Arch. and a New
Ph.D.
A decade of discussion and debate over how the School could best
emphasize graduate education and research reached a clear and
unanimous conclusion in 2005. Proposals for an extension of the existing
accredited Master of Architecture degree and for the
establishment of a new Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture degree
were approved by the faculty and the University.
School Moves to Master of Architecture as First
Professional Degree
The dominant trend in architectural education over the last few decades,
and particularly in the 1990s, has involved the replacement of the B.Arch.
with the M.Arch. degree. This movement reflects a nationally recognized
need to strengthen architectural education, to upgrade architecture’s
standard first-professional degree in line with graduate professional
degrees in other fields, and to create a measure of consistency among
the professional degrees offered by the nation’s architecture schools
The School of Architecture and Urban Design has offered an accredited
M.Arch. along with an accredited B.Arch. since 1994. Until now,
admission to the M.Arch. required the completion of a bachelors degree.
Beginning with the entering class of fall, 2006, high school seniors and
transfer students who apply for admission to KU’s accredited
architecture program will no longer be admitted to a Bachelor of
Architecture (B.Arch.) degree. Instead, students will be admitted directly
into a 5.5-year (ten semesters plus one summer) accredited Master of
Architecture (M.Arch.) degree with the last three years of the degree
paralleling, in many ways, the existing 3.5-year degree. Direct admission
into the M.Arch. will begin with all new students admitted for fall, 2006.
This move aligns the school with its peer institutions throughout the
country that emphasize graduate, professional education. The M.Arch. is
the first professional degree offered by the majority of the architecture
programs in the country and, because KU graduates compete in the
national job market, they need to carry the strongest and most easily
recognized credentials wherever they seek employment.
Differences with the Bachelor of Architecture Degree
The expanded Master of Architecture degree involves a more focused
design curriculum, specialized “tracks” of study, additional course work
more closely related to professional practice, and a pool of outside
“elective” classes that are highly relevant to an architectural education.
New Required Courses. The M.Arch. continues the ten-semester
design studio sequence that characterized the B.Arch. and it retains the
professional and technical support classes that have given both degrees
their strong technological base. Outside of this core, some important
changes have been made. First, the basic mathematics requirement in
first year can now be satisfied with one of three mathematics classes
rather than with calculus only. Second, Introduction to Architecture is
expanded and taught in three separate classes over a three-semester
period, rather than in one class the first semester. Third, the M.Arch.
requires two English classes. The third English class required in the
B.Arch. curriculum is replaced by the two-semester Western Civilization
sequence of classes. Fourth, the three architectural history classes
required in the B.Arch. are compressed into a two-semester sequence
of courses in the M.Arch. And, fifth, a new class in research methods is
required in the fourth year of study.
Summer Experience. The B.Arch. degree did not include a required
study abroad experience nor did it have a professional internship option.
Both experiences are important in preparing for a career in architecture
and most students use at least one summer for traveling abroad or
working in a firm. The M.Arch. degree requires either participation in a
summer study abroad program or an internship in an architecture firm or
related office during the summer preceding the fifth year. Either
experience carries 9 credit hours.
More Focused and Relevant Electives. The B.Arch. degree required 43
hours of general education elective courses that could be drawn from
any of the disciplines in the humanities, natural sciences, social
sciences and fine arts. Beyond the required course work in English,
mathematics, Western Civilization and physics, the M.Arch. requires
specialized classes in oral communications, natural sciences,
environmental and social sciences and the arts. Students must complete
an additional 9 hours of elective courses in any other outside field(s) of
study. The M.Arch. also requires 12 hours of professional electives plus
a year-long final “professional option” studio giving students an excellent
opportunity to develop a specialization within architecture.
Additional Credits. The B.Arch. consisted of 165 credits spread out
over 10 semesters. The M.Arch. requires 180 credits to be completed in
10 semesters and one summer following the fourth year of study.
Implications for New Students
Time required to complete the degree. The M.Arch. is designed to be
completed in 5 years, with one summer of academic work (study abroad
or an internship) included in that five-year period. Many of the elective
courses and several of the required classes are also offered during the
summer for students who wish to reduce the semester work load. A six-
year program of study may also be feasible for students who wish to
complete the degree but carry a lighter average load of credits each
semester.
Kansas-Missouri Tuition Reciprocity. The Kansas-Missouri Tuition
Reciprocity Program has covered M.Arch. students since the degree
was accredited at KU in 1994. The number of tuition waivers available
for Missouri residents will remain the same. The number of students
admitted to the M.Arch will remain consistent with admission numbers
for the B.Arch. The same criteria used for admitting students to the
B.Arch. and for assigning tuition waivers will be used for the five-year
M.Arch.
Options for Current Students
Students who are currently enrolled in the B.Arch. and those who were
admitted to the program for fall, 2005 have the option of switching to the
M.Arch. degree curriculum. Special “transition curricula” have been
designed for students within each year-level of the B.Arch.
The M.Arch. curriculum is described in detail on the School’s web site at
http://www.saud.ku.edu. Questions about the curriculum should be
directed to Professor Donna Luckey, Chair of Architecture (785-864-
3175) or to Professor Michael Swann, Associate Dean (785-864-
3180).
New Ph.D. Program in Architecture Approved by
Regents
On January 19, 2006, the Kansas Board of Regents voted to
approve the establishment of a Ph.D. in Architecture at the University of
Kansas. The vote followed a year of reviews, discussions and approvals
at various levels within the University and over ten years of discussion
and debate within the School concerning the focus of a Ph.D. program
at KU. The Kansas Ph.D. in Architecture brings the total number of
architectural doctoral programs in the United States to 20 and it
completes a significant shift in emphasis within the School.
As part of a University-wide push to emphasize graduate education and
research, the School of Architecture and Urban Design was asked in the
early 1990s to propose a new Ph.D. degree program. Several
proposals were created and circulated in the mid-1990s but the effort
was slowed by the dual demands of building the School’s new
accredited 3.5-year M.Arch while maintaining enrollments in the
accredited five-year Bachelor of Architecture degree and, at the same
time, expanding the four-year pre-professional B.A. in Architectural
Studies, which had been approved in the late-1980s. The idea of a new
Ph.D. emerged once again in 2000 when the faculty started considering
various plans to phase out the B.Arch. and maintain only the accredited
M.Arch as the first professional architecture degree at KU.
In fall, 2004, Dean John Gaunt appointed a committee of faculty and
students to bring closure to the ongoing debates and discussions and to
propose a means of replacing the B.Arch. with the M.Arch and creating
an integrated graduate program with research-based degrees that
would make it possible for the School to contribute more significantly to
the mission of the University.
Professor Donna Luckey chaired the committee which met almost
weekly and, by the end of the Fall Semester, an extension of the
accredited M.Arch to a five-year degree that would gradually replace the
B.Arch. was approved unanimously by the faculty. In January, 2005, the
faculty approved the committee’s proposal to create a new 36-credit
Master of Arts in Architecture comprised of the existing non-accredited
Architectural Management and Academic tracks within the M.Arch
degree. At the same time, the committee’s proposal for a new Ph.D. in
Architecture also received faculty and School approval.
After more than ten years of on-and-off discussion and speculation it
took six months for the Architecture Program to move from a B.A. (non-
accredited, four-year degree), a B.Arch. (accredited, five-year degree)
and an M.Arch. (one accredited 3.5-year track, two non-accredited 36-
credit tracks) to a B.A., an accredited five-year M.Arch. (with the 3.5-
year track still in place), a non-accredited M.A. in Architecture (with two
distinct 36-credit tracks), and a Ph.D. in Architecture. Regents approval
of the new Ph.D. required a full semester of approvals at different levels
within the University, a summer of review by the Board of Regents Staff,
and an intense fall assessment by a panel of distinguished faculty from
other architecture schools with Ph.D. programs before final approval
was given in January, 2005.
The School plans to admit the first students to the Ph.D. in Architecture
for the Fall Semester, 2007. The program will remain relatively small with
only 2-5 new students entering each year. Designed for completion in
three years, the Ph.D. program will require approximately two years of
course work concentrated in an area of specialization with supporting
courses from related specializations offered within the School. Students
will be required to fulfill other general University doctoral requirements
including research methods courses, comprehensive exams, and a
dissertation, and they will follow a curriculum that leans heavily toward
practice and practical applications of new knowledge. For additional
details, please visit the School’s website at http://www.saud.ku.edu or
call Professor Donna Luckey, Chair of the Architecture Program (785-
864-3175) or Professor Michael Swann, Associate Dean (785-864-
3180).
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