Two professional architecture degree programs in Cornell's College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP) have received accreditation from the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB).

The board convened in July to review reports prepared by visiting teams that evaluated both the Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) and Master of Architecture (M.Arch.) programs last spring.

The M.Arch.1 program was formally granted a three-year term of initial accreditation, effective from Jan. 1, 2009; and the B.Arch. program was reaccredited for a six-year term effective Jan. 1, 2010, Department of Architecture Chair Dagmar Richter announced. The terms represent the maximum duration for an initially accredited and reaccredited program, respectively.

"The M.Arch.1 program has demonstrated its commitment to architecture education and the students," the NAAB report says. "The visiting team found that a focus on the architect's leadership role permeates the Cornell M.Arch.1 program. ... The students in the program are highly engaged in shaping the purpose and identity of their academic community."

The report also noted the advantages of having the M.Arch.1 program within a major research institution like Cornell that has an "expectation for cross-disciplinary learning at all graduate levels."

The visiting team also was impressed with how the M.Arch.1 program reinforces the connection between architectural education and society, evidenced in international traveling studios, the AAP NYC program and the environmental course sequence that "provides a successful framework for the integration of sustainability issues into the overall design culture and intellectual discourse within the program and the department."

The undergraduate and graduate review teams determined that the condition of AAP facilities was no longer an accreditation obstacle. Paul Milstein Hall, under construction and set to open in fall 2011, "will provide needed and useful flexible space," the report says. "This significant investment, made at a time of increasingly scarce resources, is a major accomplishment by the program and the college. It is a heartening acknowledgment by the university of its commitment to professional architectural education."

In a letter to the AAP community, Richter wrote: "The teams' reports speak to the strength of both programs and the effort made to showcase the exceptional teaching, student work and research of the department. I want to thank everyone for their participation and well-earned success in this process."

AAP Dean Kent Kleinman guided the two accreditation teams and the college through the process, and Director of Undergraduate Studies Vince Mulcahy, Director of Graduate Studies Mark Morris and M.Arch.1 Coordinator Henry Richardson "worked tirelessly on the reports [and] the visit preparations and were ever present during the visits," Richter wrote. "A special thanks goes to all the students who helped us with their wit, wisdom and engagement."

Aaron Goldweber, AAP communications director, contributed to this report.