Dean's Welcome

Welcome to the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at the University of Maryland. We are the home of four leading academic disciplines of architecture, urban planning, historic preservation and real estate development, and the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education and the Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development.

I want to share with you some insights about this unique community and I want to focus on two attributes that I think are important for you to understand about us and why we are so successful at what we do.

Our first key attribute is people—who we are, what motivates us, how diligent and successful we are at doing what we do. We have talented, exceptional students; passionate, experienced, vital faculty, dedicated staff; and motivated alumni.

Our students enter our four programs—Architecture, Planning, Preservation and Real Estate Development—at different points in the educational process. We have a competitive undergraduate program in architecture and offer professional and post-professional graduate programs in all four disciplines. Our unique PhD program integrates all four disciplines in a combination that reflects the most advanced thinking in the disciplines today.

Our faculty members, like our students, have a rich array of backgrounds and interests. About half the faculty are full-time academics doing research and scholarships in their disciplines. The other half are professional practitioners from agencies and professional offices throughout the metropolitan area. Representing all four disciplines, these real-world practitioners bring extraordinary examples, case studies and insights to the classroom.

Our alumni are successful, dedicated and ready to help our students with advice and professional contacts. Our career fairs feature breakout sessions led by alumni eager to share their professional experiences with our students. Maryland alumni often represent their companies at our recruitment events.

Our second key attribute is proximity—the University of Maryland is in an extraordinary setting. President Mote has referred to our unfair advantage over other academic environments because of our location inside the Beltway, connected to all the agencies, the think tanks, the decision makers, that drive this country and distinguish it from most any other place on the face of the earth.

We are seven miles from the nation's capital and within close earshot of every major think tank, agency and resource that this nation brings to bear on the challenges of our future.

We are also fortunate to be near several learning laboratories, communities that were conceived of 50 years ago and that continue as vital experiments in architecture, preservation, planning and development. Greenbelt and Columbia, Maryland and Reston, Virginia are classic examples from the middle of the 20th century of trying to define new communities and new ways of building and expanding metropolitan areas. They stand as living laboratories that we regularly visit, study and contribute to.

In addition, Maryland, one of the oldest states, one of the original 13 colonies, is laced with some of the nation's most significant heritage. Bostwick House, just one mile from campus, is a historic property owned by the School. Our Historic Preservation Director lives in an out-building, and students hold classes in the structure and learn directly from what is uncovered and restored.

Another advantage of being so close to the nation's capital is the relationship we have with the associations, agencies and leaders who are posing the questions of our time. One way they do this is through competitions, which our faculty and students are keen to enter. We won the latest George Washington University Real Estate Development Competition by assembling an interdisciplinary team of students with varied professional backgrounds.

You may have already heard about our most successful competition entry to date. In the most recent Solar Decathlon competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2007, the University of Maryland team, led by the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, did extraordinarily well. Our LEAFHouse placed second among all 20 competing universities and first among U.S. universities. We brought the prize-winning house back on campus and will be opening it as an interpretive center and a home for the regional American Institute of Architects Chapter. We also have transferred the intellectual property of this successful scheme to industry, and Empyrean Homes, based in Massachusetts, is going to begin producing these homes and making them available to families across America.

Thank you for taking the time to allow us to introduce ourselves. I invite you to come and visit us. Come see a gallery exhibition, a lecture or a review and experience the energy we have to offer.

Garth Rockcastle, FAIA
Professor and Dean