Women Who Lead Philadelphia’s Schools of Architecture

BY FRANCA TRUBIANO PhD., OAQ.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, WEITZMAN SCHOOL OF DESIGN, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

accredited schools of architecture. At Jefferson, students in the College of Architecture and the Built Environment are led by Dean Barbara Klinkhammer, while students in the Department of Architecture at the Weitzman School of Design are headed by Chair Winka Dubbledam. They are joined by Rashida Ng, who most recently completed a six-year tenure as Chair of Architecture and Environmental Design at Temple University, and Ulrike Altenmüller-Lewis, the Architecture Program Director in the Department of Architecture, Design & Urbanism at Drexel University. Not only is this level of all-female leadership historically unprecedented, it also heralds the arrival of a new spirit of engaged critique of the discipline and profession. As expected, changes in leadership occasion changes in perspective. It is not entirely surprising, therefore, that these leaders have initiated serious and timely challenges to how schools of architecture are administered and governed, to how and what they teach, and to the larger question of diversity amongst the student body and faculty. The following essay collects two reflections on the subject solicited by Context Issue co-editor Franca Trubiano from Associate Professors Rashida Ng and Ulrike Altenmüller-Lewis.

shifts. Simultaneously, we observe accelerating change in the realities of practice. Innovations in the use of data and technology in construction, alternative work processes, new expectations for employment, and increased mobility have all impacted the structure of firms. And yet, these challenges offer exciting opportunities for critical reflection and renewal. They offer us a chance to embrace a culture of open mindedness, inclusion, and change in the academy that will also serve as a catalyst for a renewal of the architectural profession.

Joining Drexel University’s Architecture Program in 2008 as Associate Program Director and Assistant Professor on tenure track, there were only a handful of women on the fulltime and adjunct architecture faculty. Today roughly one third of our full-time and adjunct faculty members are female. At the time, I was charged with assessing and reforming the curriculum; an exciting but challenging opportunity that allowed

me to also foster a more inclusive culture. While the majority of faculty and students welcomed the prospect of progress and renewal, some colleagues veiled their frustration, somewhat thinly, that a “girl” would question how and what they taught. In 2011, I became the first female architect leading Drexel’s Architecture Program and, at that time, the only female full-time faculty member. The following year, I became a mother and our first fulltime faculty member in architecture to request maternity leave. While support was mostly strong, I faced some of the same biases and challenges many women and working mothers face; having to prove that you are (still) qualified and capable to do the job, balancing complicated schedules at work and at home, working twice as hard and at crazy hours.

During that time, I understood that as a female with leverage, I had to be a role-model and a catalyst for change to instill a culture of inclusiveASSOCIATE PROFESSOR & ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN & URBANISM, DREXEL UNIVERSITY

1 Joanna Smerina on a

2 Drexel 2021 Grad-

Dragon. 3 Drexel AIAS

ness and to encourage opportunities for more systemic transformations. Since 2008, enrollment of female students in Drexel’s Architecture Program has increased to approximately 45%. During the same period, enrollment of minority students has roughly doubled from 16% to 35%. In fall 2020 we welcomed the most diverse freshmen class to date, with 50% non-white students. I hope that the days when non-white students are a minority in any architecture class is a thing of the past! While we continue to face many challenges—and increasing the diversity of the faculty is currently one of my strong priorities—it is good to see how this increase in diversity in the Drexel community is giving us positive impulses to continue to evolve in this direction. I am enthusiastic to work with other like-minded leaders, colleagues, and students towards lasting transformation in how we build just space and inclusive environments, shaping a society that affords a sense of belonging, well-being, and opportunities for everyone.

Based on conversations with Drexel’s inspiring students, faculty, and professionals, we are currently rethinking our pedagogical models for design education, working towards providing more expansive and inclusive paths that allow for flexibility and individualization in the curriculum. The latter is particularly important for female and BIPOC students, who still face more challenges completing their education and advancing their careers. While the Drexel AIAS chapter and the Drexel University Black Architecture Student Society DU.BASS have a history of energetic and successful female leaders, together we need to expand the avenues for advocacy, scholarships and financial support. Between new NAAB accreditation criteria, college and university strategic initiatives, a generational change of our faculty, and fueled by the pandemic, stars are aligned for Drexel’s Architecture Program to embrace new and unique opportunities and bring exciting change.

Through our work-study model, Drexel’s Architecture Program has a history of providing an accessible and flexible path to becoming a registered architect with a robust practice-oriented education. This part-time legacy program is strong and highly valued by applicants, students, alumni, and employers. For many students this path is the only feasible option to fulfill their dream of becoming an architect: evening classes and the option of working during the day helps some students meet family schedules and alleviates financial constraints. Adding the “Integrated Path to Professional Licensure (IPAL),” has afforded our students the ability to accelerate their journey of becoming licensed architects– something that is particularly important and appealing to our female students who have been trailblazers of this unique opportunity to accelerate professional licensure.1 However, the need to provide additional, more nimble pathways to employment in architecture and related fields is increasingly obvious. This fall, Drexel will launch a new Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies that provides exciting opportunities for increased interdisciplinary collaboration, something that the professional degree program cannot easily accommodate. Also, we are carefully calibrating the lessons learned from teaching online during the pandemic to better support our students—particularly those in the parttime evening option of the B.Arch. degree. Any time we can increase flexibility and accelerate professional pathways, we help women and underrepresented minorities succeed in reaching their professional goals.

Charged with the responsibility of preparing the next generation of architects for an uncertain future, I am very interested in advancing and creating models of education in architecture, both traditional and innovative, that support and empower students in their endeavors—particularly those marginalized, underrepresented, and unconventional—to make sustainable improvements and lasting positive changes in the world. n

1. The Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure (IPAL) is an opportunity for Drexel Students to concurrently complete their accredited degree in architecture, log their Architectural Experience Program (AXP) hours and sit for the Architectural Registration Examination (ARE) while students and achieve licensure upon graduation. https://www.ncarb. org/become-architect/ipal /. Women and BIPOC graduates are still significantly less likely to become registered architects as data by ACSA shows.

BY RASHIDA NG

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND CHAIR OF ARCHITECTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN (2016-2021) TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY

the planet. Considering the immense challenges of environmental, climate, and racial injustice facing architecture and the world, I am hopeful that the architecture profession will select the path towards justice. I am encouraged that our collective consciousness has awakened our ethical responsibility to address the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis on blacks, indigenous people, and other communities of color. I am also heartened by the sincerity of recent efforts to initiate meaningful and lasting change. However, we have not yet risen to this challenge. With few exceptions, twenty-first century architecture pedagogies can largely be traced to nineteenth century traditions. As we deepen our understanding of the history of racial oppression and environmental neglect, the fundamentals of the curriculum and how we teach it must be reformed.

It is our ethical responsibility to current students and future generations to disrupt the status quo. How long will we continue to greet students with courses that embrace a history of colonization and domination without critical review of these practices? Given the holistic impact of architecture on our quality of life, how can we teach future professionals to design for communities without routinely partnering with them in our programs? While responding to the needs of our clients, we must teach students to embrace our civic obligation to the public at large.

As a woman of color in a position of leadership for the past six years, I have struggled to find opportunities to disrupt deeply embedded practices in architecture that reinforce the patterns of power and privilege of our society. I have faced the painful truth that my personal identity has not automatically wired me to advance justice within a system that is oriented otherwise. Unless I am actively addressing injustice, I am continuing to perpetuate inequities. There is no neutral position. However, the most important lesson I have learned is that this is not the work of a single administrator. We all have more work to do. Today’s challenges require each of us to learn, to listen, and to act.

Despite the urgency of the social and environmental crises, I appreciate the importance of thoughtful and measured action. I am grateful to my colleagues at Tyler for their partnership as we have begun a deliberative process of educating ourselves about the systems and history of racial oppression, which may have been absent from our schooling. Through this faculty-led initiative,

we are reviewing the content of our curric- 2 ulum and pedagogies to develop our lens of equity and anti-racism. I am also grateful to the students in our program who continue to hold us accountable for these changes that are long overdue. Progress is slow, yet we remain committed.

But architecture has been here before. Although we recognize these systemic problems, will we sustain our efforts over the months, years, decades, and even centuries to come? In the well-known speech given two months after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Whitney M. Young Jr. chided architects for their silence and indifference at the 1968 AIA Convention. He stated: “You are employers, you are key people in the planning of our cities today. You share the responsibility for the mess we are in terms of the white noose around the central city. It didn’t just happen. We didn’t just suddenly get this situation. It was carefully planned.” 1 Now, over fifty-years later, people of color within cities—including Philadelphia— still shoulder the burden of poverty, crime, extreme heat, and health disparities that are further exacerbated by climate change.

Architects are called to advance a more equitable, just, and healthy world than the one that exists today. The remedy to systemic injustice begins with the individual commitment of many, especially those in positions of power and with identities of privilege. We must collectively question norms and practices that have been previously overlooked. We can only find our way to justice together. n

1 Rema Amin Qasmieh, a Tyler M.

tions. 2 Urban design proposal by

3 Yasmeen Amira Brahimi (Tyler M

3

1. Whitney M. Young, Jr., Remarks at the AIA Convention in Portland,

Oregon, June 1968 https://content.aia.org/sites/default/files/2018-04/

WhitneyYoungJr_1968AIAContention_FulLSpeech.pdf