Magazine Ranks Clemson Architecture Program in Top 10
Monday, November 19, 2007Architect magazine rates Clemson University's graduate program in architecture among the best in the nation for 2008. The November issue of Architect ranks Clemson in a three-way tie with Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin for 10th in the nation. The top two positions are held by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A four-page feature in the magazine also includes a profile of Clemson President Jim Barker, an architect, former dean of architecture at Clemson and an alumnus of the undergraduate program. The story also is on the magazine's website. Lee Hall is home to Clemson's architecture school. In a brief description of Clemson’s graduate program, the magazine cited its fluid campus concept as one reason Clemson is set apart from many others. Clemson architecture students are strongly encouraged to spend at least one semester in one of its centers in Charleston; Genoa, Italy; or Barcelona, Spain. Some spend a semester in each, enabling them not only to see great architecture, but to live and feel the culture that supports it. According to Ted Cavanagh, chairman of the Clemson University School of Architecture, the fluid campus is unique among architecture schools. While many programs send students on trips to Europe, Clemson owns a building in Genoa and faculty stay there the entire year. The centers in Charleston and Barcelona are staffed in rented space, although plans are under way to establish a permanent site in Charleston’s historic district. The magazine rankings were compiled from 130 architecture firms, 46 architecture deans and 740 architecture students who responded to a national survey. 'We are gratified to see Clemson returning to national recognition,' Cavanagh said. 'All the hard work of alumni, faculty and students is paying off. Looking to the future, this should help us attract more top students and faculty to the school.' Cavanagh said he believes the fluid campus and the School of Architecture's unusual alignment with other disciplines in the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities enables the program to develop students ready to contribute to a multifaceted world. 'We teach our students about locality and the unique aspects of places, so they're able to operate in different local environments, which is important in today's global architecture profession,' Cavanagh said. Architect magazine ranked Columbia University and Cornell in a tie for third, Washington University in St. Louis in a tie with Virginia Tech for fifth, University of Cincinnati at seventh, and the University of Michigan and the University of California at Berkeley in a tie for eighth. Runners-up are Princeton, Yale, the University of Virginia, Kansas State and Syracuse University. For more information about Clemson's programs in architecture, visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Arch.
