In Fall 2010, the Architecture Department will begin to offer a two year Master of Architecture (M. Arch). The M. Arch will replace the B. Arch as Temple University's professionally accredited architecture program. When earned sequentially, the four year pre-professional B. S Arch and the two year professional M. Arch comprise a National Architecture Accreditation Board (NAAB, http://www.naab.org) accredited professional education. Holders of the M. Arch may be admitted, upon completion of postgraduate internship, to the architectural licensing examination offered in each state, through which they may become registered architects. It is practice for students to take a year or two out between their undergraduate and graduate studies, increasing the maturity they bring to a graduate program.

The proposed graduate program includes four design studios (or three design studios and a thesis), three research seminars, courses in structures, environmental control systems and professional practice and four elective courses. Study abroad opportunities at Temple Rome and Temple Japan are offered in the spring semester, and a summer studio is offered as an alternative to a regular semester studio.

The new program assembles the ingredients - students, faculty, issues, ideas and tools - to engage with the urgent urban, environmental, spatial, cultural, political and technological issues of our times. It asks participants to consider reflexively how architects impact on the world and ways in which we can do better. It recognizes the complexity and interconnectivity of the contemporary universe, requiring architects with cunning and agility to absorb and respond to the issues it presents.