i. institutional support and commitment to continuous improvement

I. Institutional Support and Commitment to Continuous Improvement
preservation through studio projects that focus on the adaptive re-use, the rehabilitation, or
preservation of historic structures. This is consistent with current standards for architectural
education being reviewed nationwide by the American Institute of Architects’ Historic
Resources Committee.
Students also complete an internship in preservation either in an architectural office or
other agency; or they may participate in a SAIC study trip. Alternatively, students can enroll
in an additional term(s) to complete the certificate. Currently, five students are on track to
complete the certificate program.
d) Cross-Listed and multi-level courses; transdisciplinary faculty
Cross-listed courses on both the undergraduate and graduate level permeate departmental
borders and allow students to direct their study in various areas of the institution, locating
themselves in other communities and working with a range of faculty and students. Some of
these courses are also multi-level, allowing interaction among students at varying points in
the post-secondary education.
Faculty in many departments regularly teach in other departments, and indeed most of the
full-time faculty at SAIC came here because of this strong transdisciplinary possibility. This
reality constitutes the underlying ethos of the school, and it has an important emphasis on
the professional masters degree programs.
In 2010-11, 25 AIADO courses are cross-listed with other departments. While the majority
of the cross-listing is between Architecture and Interior Architecture courses, there are a
number of transdisciplinary offerings including Fall’s Visual and Critical Studies (AIADO 3933
Design Denied) and Art Education (AIADO 4903 Landscape/Territory/Field), and spring’s
Fashion (AIADO 4900 Fashion and Architecture: Fluid Interfaces) and New Arts Journalism
(AIADO 4932 Unwrapping Design & Architecture). SAIC tracks enrollment through the
various departments under which a course is listed on the course schedule to provide
historical overview of enrollment patterns, and the percentage of students from various areas
that enroll in the cross-listed or transdisciplinary courses.
In Fall 2009 courses in addition to ARCH/INARC cross-listed courses such as Informing
Design: Thinking Strategies, cross-discipline-based courses such as the graduate-level
courses ARCH/INARC 6112 Nodes, Networks and Interactivity; or Artists Games, Activated
Objects, and Ceramics for Designed Objects co-taught with Art and Technology or Ceramics
faculty were offered.
In Fall 2008, AIADO faculty taught in 25 courses that were cross-listed, in two to four areas
of study, among architecture, interior architecture and/or designed objects with art and
technology, fashion design, visual and critical studies and/or ceramics. In total, there were 365
unique enrollments among these courses.
e) SAIC critique week
Critique Week, in which courses are suspended for a week each semester and faculty
review recent graduate work, is a key long-standing mechanism for ensuring the interaction
of students and faculty from across the entire institution. In this school-wide week of
evaluation, SAIC professors are assigned to panels that provide each graduate student with
a unique review and discussion of their work. Fall Graduate Critiques are disciplinary, and
spring Graduate Critiques are transdisciplinary, providing students with feedback from a
wider visually astute audience that is not necessarily familiar with the field of architectural
17 | Spring 2011
SECTION I Institutional Support and Commitment to Continuous Improvement