Creating Just, Sustainable and Healthy Futures
At the UVA School of Architecture, our mission is to shape the next generation of innovative leaders, thinkers, designers, and makers who are driven by a shared sense of service as a public university to make the world a better place. Through design excellence and innovative research that addresses the complex issues of our day, we seek to create more just, resilient, healthy and empowering futures for all.
Our faculty and staff are leading the way in driving positive change through their research, teaching, service, and creative practice. They are working collaboratively across our respective disciplines and beyond to create new knowledge, to transform design and planning practices, and to support our collective educational mission. Our students come from all corners of the world and are intellectually curious, understand the importance of combining both theory and practice, and are committed to the public good. Our graduates are leaders in the design and planning practices working across multiple scales, across diverse geographies, and within the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
The UVA School of Architecture — faculty, staff, students, and alumni — are working together to help shape and support thriving communities.
Our Priorities
1. OUR CLIMATE RESILIENCE / CLIMATE JUSTICE INITIATIVE
Working at the intersections of climate change and design, our faculty and students are leading interdisciplinary collaborative research on coastal resiliency, flood mitigation, bio-based materials for architecture and construction, and urban sustainability across regions from the Arctic to India and South America, and from coastal Virginia to here in Charlottesville. Learn more about our current climate-based research through our faculty spotlights.
2. OUR JEDI INITIATIVE
Cultivating shared humanity across difference, the A-School community is working together to create a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive shared culture, led by empathy and care. The School of Architecture’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Initiative articulates and guides our collective commitment (as leadership, faculty, staff, and students) to building, promoting and sustaining a culture of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion within and beyond the University.
3. MAKING THE A-SCHOOL ACCESSIBLE + AFFORDABLE
Driven by our mission as a public university committed to the public good, we are committed to increasing student support: through scholarships, fellowships and financial aid; through mentorship and professional development; through engagement opportunities and resources for well-being and student success. Learn more about how our Academic Support Fund provides focused financial support to our students towards the hidden costs of higher education, such as material and technology expenses.
4. FACULTY + STAFF EXCELLENCE
Central to our educational and research mission, we work to attract, recruit, retain and promote faculty and staff who excel in research, teaching, service and professional practice, while promoting a collaborative, supportive and intellectually rich academic environment. At the core of this priority is shared governance, led by Faculty and Staff Councils that working closely with the School's Executive Leadership Team.
5. A DEDICATED SPACE FOR COLLABORATIVE DESIGN
At the School of Architecture, we work across design, planning, policy, the humanities, construction, entrepreneurship, and more with a deep commitment to ethical engagement with our community partners. As we grow, we are also building a long-term plan to house an innovative research hub for our community-facing design work that enhances collaboration across Grounds and with our Charlottesville and regional neighbors.