From BGSU OFFICE OF MARKETING & BRAND STRATEGY
Bowling Green State University recently earned full accreditation for its Master of Architecture (M.Arch) program by the National Architectural Accrediting Board.
As the only graduate program in northwestern Ohio to obtain full NAAB accreditation, the BGSU degree paves the way for students to immediately secure professional licensure upon graduation to practice architecture anywhere in the United States.
Housed in the School of the Built Environment, the BGSU M.Arch program’s accreditation allows faculty and staff to further their mission of recruiting, educating and retaining architects in a region that needs more working professionals in the field.
“In our school, we had embarked on a challenging effort of building a professional master’s curricula out of an existing undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in a state with only four other accredited programs, but in a region where there is no other school of architecture,” School of the Built Environment Director Dr. Arsenio Rodrigues said. “We have now accomplished this vision with our NAAB-accredited Master of Architecture Degree program in the School of the Built Environment.”
The BGSU M.Arch program is part of a unique collaboration between architecture and construction management programs at the University.
BGSU is the only university in Ohio at which architecture and construction management programs are housed together, as students from both programs collaborate at the new, state-of-the-art Kokosing Hall, which opened in 2023.
Just as architects and construction managers collaborate in the real world, a core belief at BGSU is that both fields should work together as students.
“BGSU has one of the oldest construction management programs in the country and long held the belief that the designer and constructor should be educated together,” Rodrigues said. “Within this context, the School of the Built Environment brings both our architecture and construction management programs together. Both programs engage each other in coursework that serves both programs.”
In addition to its collaboration with construction management that provides a holistic perspective on how things are built, the M.Arch program features small class sizes, emphasizes entrepreneurship and fosters a sense of community, both within the School of the Built Environment and the larger architecture field.
Now that BGSU M.Arch holds an eight-year NAAB accreditation, Rodrigues said the partnership between construction management and architecture students at the University has only grown stronger, allowing both programs to meet a key workforce need in Ohio and the broader Great Lakes region.
“As the profession has embraced new delivery systems such as integrated design, design/build and design assistance, the BGSU School of the Built Environment affords students from both programs the ability to learn and study alongside each other,” Rodrigues said. “BGSU students graduate knowing how to design and how to build their architectural visions. In the SBE, both programs – architecture and construction management – are now fully accredited at the highest levels.”
In recognition of its top standards, the BGSU graduate program is accredited through its next NAAB visit in 2031.
