Integrating the Boyer Report into Architectural Engineering Technology Education at the University of Hartford

Abstract

AbstractBuilding Community: A New Future for Architectural Education and Practice by Ernest L. Boyer and Lee D. Mitgang of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1996, was intended to be a “comprehensive study of education and practice for the 21st century.” It was commissioned by the five national architectural organizations that joined together with a common goal of seeing the need for an independent study of professional education and practice: the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), the American Institute of Architects Students (AIAS), the National Council of Architectural Registration Board (NCARB), and the National Architectural Accrediting Board, Inc. (NAAB). The Boyer report identified problems, opportunities, and challenges not only for the primary audience of architecture educators and practitioners but also others in higher education. Boyer and Mitgang challenged architects and educators to “a new vision.” This vision would connect architecture schools and the profession more effectively to the changing social context. The academy was challenged with providing A Connected Curriculum. Practicing architects were challenged with providing A Unified Profession. The Boyer report, “urged schools to prepare future architects for lives of civic engagement, of Service to the Nation” [1]. The authors of Building Community were optimistic that the challenges could be met and we have taken on this challenge.