The National Architecture Accrediting Board, the only organization granting accreditation to U.S. architecture programs, completed a four-day evaluation of Yale’s Architecture School on Wednesday.
Beginning on Sunday, NAAB members met with numerous students, faculty and administrators, including Architecture School Dean Robert Stern, University President Richard Levin, Provost Andrew Hamilton and Deputy Provost for the Arts Barbara Shailor. The evaluation proceedings were coordinated by architecture professor Hilary Sample.
“We were all very pleased with the thoroughness of the review and the dedication of the people who came to visit, and we are now happy that the review is over, because it’s an incredible amount of work,” Shailor said.
NAAB Accreditation Manager Cassandra Pair said NAAB board members are now preparing a report on Yale’s program, and the University will receive official notification of the Architecture School’s accreditation status in July.
The Architecture School was last reaccredited in 2001, Stern said, when it was awarded a six-year term, the maximum granted by the NAAB, until its next evaluation.
The NAAB grants an architecture program either a six-year term, a three-year term, a two-year probationary term or revokes a program’s accreditation, Pair said.
Stern said he expects the Architecture School’s accreditation to be renewed for another full six-year term.
“We came away with flying colors,” he said.
Architecture professor Alan Plattus, a former NAAB president, said the reaccreditation process is fairly straightforward. The most important piece of the board’s work is reviewing student work, he said. Although the NAAB sets no standardized curriculum for architecture programs, the organization attempts to ensure that students graduate with the skills essential for entering their profession, he said.