Graduate Architecture Program Accredited by NAAB

The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), the only agency authorized to accredit professional architecture degree programs in the United States, has accredited the Master of Architecture degree program at the University of Hartford. In most states, a professional architecture degree is one of the requirements to take the architectural registration exam. The University of Hartford architecture program is now only one of two NAAB-accredited degree programs in Connecticut; the other is Yale University’s. According to Architecture Chair Michael J. Crosbie, AIA, “This is great news for our graduates, faculty, students, advisors, supporters, friends, and everyone who has been part of the program over the years, working toward this goal.”

The Master of Architecture degree program grew out of the architecture department’s Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering Technology program, begun in the early 1990s. The master’s degree program admitted its first class in fall 2004.

The professional degree program has a 4+2 structure, in which students receive a pre-professional bachelors degree in architecture after four years of study. Students then must apply (even if they graduated from the CETA undergraduate program) to the master’s program, which is designed to be completed in two years.

The graduate program is full time, requiring 64 credits of course work. Students must take four studios (one each semester) with the final studio dedicated to a thesis project defined by the student. Other courses cover such areas a site design, mechanical systems, building economics, structural systems, design theory, urban design, professional practice, and thesis research. Students must take four professional electives in areas such as art, engineering, or business. A number of Hartford graduate students have pursued dual degrees in architecture and business.

The graduate program takes advantage of the department’s lecture series, which in the past has brought to campus such practitioners and designers as Peter Eisenman, Richard Meier, James Wines, Cesar Pelli, Jon Pickard, Ann Beha, and Kent Bloomer. The lectures are free and open to the public, and usually attract a large contingent of practitioners.

The program’s focus is on the links between architecture and its civic, social, and professional functions. Over the past few years a greater emphasis has been placed on forging links with the City of Hartford, working on projects with the city planning office and the office of development. This semester a new downtown graduate urban studio was established with the firm JCJ Architecture.

For more information about CETA’s graduate architecture program, please visit the department website here.

CETA congratulates everyone who worked to make the NAAB accreditation a reality.