News

Virginia Tech’s Architecture and Design programs have once again been ranked in the top 10

The architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture programs in Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture + Design are ranked among the very best in America.

In its 2006 report, DesignIntelligence, the only national college ranking survey focused exclusively on design, has ranked Virginia Tech’s undergraduate architecture program seventh nation-wide and fourth in the East. DesignIntelligence also ranks the university’s undergraduate landscape architecture eighth in the nation and second in the East, and graduate landscape architecture fourteenth in the nation. Virginia Tech’s graduate interior design program is ranked ninth in the nation.

Virginia Tech is listed as one of the architecture schools with the most faculty awards in the nation. Edward Dorsa, associate professor of industrial design in the School of Architecture + Design, of Blacksburg, was named one of the most admired industrial design educators of 2006.

The rankings reflect the results of a survey asking professionals to assess which, of the more than 100 National Architectural Accrediting Board-accredited architecture programs, best prepared students for practice. According to DesignIntelligence, the survey targets individuals in firms who have direct experience with the hiring and performance of graduates: design partners, managing principals, and human resource directors. To rank landscape architecture programs accredited by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board, DesignIntelligence surveys professionals in leading national landscape architecture firms as well as public sector practitioners. Foundation for Interior Design Education Research-accredited interior design programs are assessed by interior design firms and interior design departments within architecture firms.

The top-ranked undergraduate programs for 2006 are:

1. Cornell University
2. University of Texas at Austin
3. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and Rice University (tie)
5. Kansas State University and Rhode Isalnd School of Design (tie)
7. Virginia Polytechnic and State University and Syracuse University (tie)
9. Carnegie Mellon University
10. Pennsylvania State University and Pratt Institute (tie)
12. University of Notre Dame
13. Iowa State University and University of Kansas (tie)
15. Auburn University and University of Oregon (tie)

4 January 2006