Accreditation

Volunteer with NAAB

Volunteers are the heart of accreditation, contributing their time, expertise, and passion for excellence in architectural education each year to engage in peer review of NAAB’s accredited programs. Representing the perspectives of educators, regulators, practitioners, and students, they spend more than 10,000 hours conducting much of the work of accreditation, supported by the NAAB accreditation staff. NAAB volunteers serve as members of NAAB’s Board of Directors, members of the Accreditation Review Committee, and as members of visiting teams, travelling across the country and internationally to review professional programs in architecture seeking or reaffirming NAAB accreditation.

For questions about volunteer opportunities, please email accreditation@naab.org.

Volunteer group at table

NAAB Site Visitors

The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) seeks nominations for its pool of site visitors to support the board of directors in providing quality assurance to architecture programs. NAAB site visitors may be nominated by ACSA, AIA, AIAS, NCARB, or NOMA or they may nominate themselves by completing NAAB’s nomination form and demonstrating that they meet required criteria.

NAAB site visitors are a vital part of the accreditation process, serving as the eyes and ears of NAAB’s Board of Directors and contributing their time, expertise, and passion for excellence in architectural education. Site visit teams are required to evaluate, before and during the site visit, the program's compliance with NAAB Conditions for Accreditation and complete the Visiting Team Report (VTR) with the team’s evaluation. Site visits typically last for three to four days, with teams consisting of three to five members who represent the educator, practitioner, regulator, and student perspectives of professional architectural education.
 
Through their participation in the accreditation process, NAAB site visitors have the opportunity to:
 
  • Develop and cultivate new professional relationships with educators, practitioners, regulators, and students.
  • Gain access to NAAB’s online community of site visitors to share experience and expertise related to site visits.
  • Observe the creative, diverse, and innovative ways that professional architecture programs throughout the US and abroad are preparing the next generation of architects.
  • Learn the ins and outs of professional accreditation.
  • Gain insight into how the field of architecture is developing.
  • Visit programs seeking accreditation across the United States and abroad.
  • Give back to the colleges and universities that provided you with the opportunity to study architecture and to the profession in which you practice.
  • Serve current and future students by ensuring that their programs are meeting the requirements that the profession has determined are essential to the quality architectural education.
  • Become eligible for other service opportunities at NAAB, such as membership in the Accreditation Review Committee.
  • Grow professionally.

NAAB Procedures for Accreditation require site visit teams to be composed of individuals who represent one or more of four areas of expertise to provide a diversity of perspectives on professional architectural education.

Educator
  • A person who is employed on a full-time basis as an educator or with past full-time employment as an educator in a NAAB-accredited architecture program. This employment should include service responsibilities to the program.
  • If applying for renewal of a term of service, evaluations of past team service are positive.
Practitioner
  • A person with more than five years of experience as a licensed architect.
  • If applying for renewal of a term of service, evaluations of past team service are positive.
Regulator
  • A person with professional architectural experience who has served within the last ten years on a state architecture licensing board or other agency related to the practice of architecture.
  • If applying for renewal of a term of service, evaluations of past team service are positive.
Student
  • A current student enrolled in a NAAB-accredited B.Arch., M.Arch., or D.Arch. program or a graduate of a NAAB-accredited B.Arch., M.Arch., or D.Arch. within the past five years. Current students must have advanced standing in their program. Current upper-level students intending to complete their pre-professional degrees as part of a NAAB-accredited M.Arch. program are also eligible.
  • If applying for renewal of a term of service, evaluations of past team service are positive.

NAAB site visitors are required to commit to the following responsibilities:

  • Commit to a four academic-year term, beginning July 1 or January 1.
  • Complete NAAB’s required online, on-demand site visitor training modules and attend a live, virtual half-day training session prior to being assigned to a visiting team.
  • Be willing to participate in at least one visit per year.
  • Complete required site visitor training updates.
  • Serve as a visiting team chair once requirements have been met.
  • Once assigned to a visiting team, fulfill all responsibilities described in the NAAB Procedures.
  • Follow all applicable NAAB policies and procedures.

NAAB accepts applications for the site visitor pool on a rolling basis throughout the year. Site visitors travel to college and university campuses in the US and abroad to conduct accreditation reviews on behalf of the NAAB for undergraduate and graduate professional education programs in architecture. Four-year terms start July 1 and January 1 and are renewable.
 
Click here to nominate yourself to serve as a NAAB site visitor.

Received nominations will be reviewed by NAAB staff, and eligible nominees will be added to the NAAB pool of site visitors for a four-year renewable term.

Submit a Site Visitor Nomination Form

Link here

Accreditation Review Committee

Applications for the Accreditation Review Committee (ARC) are currently closed.

The ARC is responsible for conducting reviews of maintenance of accreditation reports, including, but not limited to, the Annual Report, Special Report, and Plan to Correct, and making recommendations to NAAB’s Board of Directors regarding the program’s ongoing compliance with NAAB’s Conditions and Procedures for Accreditation.

NAAB is committed to ensuring that the ARC represents a diversity of professional roles, demographics, and experience, and that ARC evaluators demonstrate familiarity with the NAAB Conditions and Procedures for Accreditation.

Reviewers who serve on the ARC must be educators, practitioners, and/or regulators in the field of architecture who have served on a minimum of one NAAB accreditation visit within the past five years and received a positive evaluation.

  • Educator: A person who is employed on a full-time basis as an educator or with past full-time employment as an educator in a NAAB-accredited architecture program. This employment should include service responsibilities to the program.
  • Practitioner: A person with more than five years of experience as a licensed architect.
  • Regulator: A person with professional architectural experience who has served within the last ten years on a state architecture licensing board or other agency related to the practice of architecture.

ARC evaluators cannot concurrently serve on the staff or on the Board of Directors of AIA, AIAS, ACSA, or NCARB. ARC evaluators are required to complete NAAB training before they begin their first term and are subject to NAAB’s Conflict of Interest, Confidentiality, and other applicable policies.

ARC evaluators will serve two-year terms and are eligible for reappointment. All meetings are held in a virtual format.

Reviewers who serve on the ARC are required to commit to the following responsibilities:

  • Commit to a two-year term, beginning October 1.
  • Complete NAAB’s required online, on-demand training modules and attend live, virtual meetings.
  • Fulfill all responsibilities, conducting reviews in accordance with the Procedures and adhering to committee deadlines.
  • Follow all applicable NAAB policies.

NAAB opens a call for applications each year. Two-year terms start October 1 and are renewable.