BGSU Master of Architecture program becomes only one in northwestern Ohio to earn full NAAB accreditation

The sole national agency that grants accreditation recognizes BGSU for top standards within its architecture program

By Nick Piotrowicz

The National Architectural Accrediting Board awarded Bowling Green State University with full, eight-year accreditation for the University’s Master of Architecture program, paving the way for its graduates to immediately secure professional licensure upon graduation to practice architecture anywhere in the United States. 

NAAB, the sole agency to grant accreditation to professional architecture degree programs in the U.S., recognized the BGSU program for its top standards and awarded accreditation until its next visit in 2031.

BGSU is one of just five universities in Ohio – and the only one in northwestern Ohio – to hold this accreditation.

The M.Arch program, housed within the BGSU School of the Built Environment, can continue its yearslong goal of recruiting, educating and retaining future architects in a local region that needs more working professionals in the field.

“In the SBE, we had embarked on a challenging effort of building a professional master’s curricula out of an existing undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in a state with only four other accredited programs, but in a region where there is no other school of architecture,” SBE Director Dr. Arsenio Rodrigues said. “We have now accomplished this vision with our NAAB-accredited Master of Architecture Degree program in the School of the Built Environment.”

The M.Arch program is part of a unique collaboration between architecture and construction management at the University.

BGSU is the only university in Ohio at which architecture and construction management programs are housed together, as students from both programs collaborate at the new, state-of-the-art Kokosing Hall, which was dedicated in 2023. 

Just as architects and construction managers collaborate in the real world, a core belief at BGSU is that both fields should work together as students.

“BGSU has one of the oldest construction management programs in the country and long held the belief that the designer and constructor should be educated together,” Rodrigues said. “Within this context, the School of the Built Environment brings both our architecture and construction management programs together. Both programs engage each other in coursework that serves both programs.”

In addition to its collaboration with construction management that provides a more holistic perspective on how things are built, the M.Arch program features small class sizes, emphasizes entrepreneurship and fosters a sense of community, both within SBE and the larger architecture field.

Now that M.Arch holds an eight-year NAAB accreditation, Rodrigues said the partnership between construction management and architecture students at BGSU has only grown stronger, thus allowing both programs to meet a key workforce need in Ohio and the broader Great Lakes region.

“As the profession has embraced new delivery systems such as integrated design, design/build and design assistance, the BGSU School of the Built Environment affords students from both programs the ability to learn and study alongside each other,” Rodrigues said. “BGSU students graduate knowing how to design and how to build their architectural visions. 

“In the SBE, both programs – architecture and construction management – are now fully accredited at the highest levels.”