Call for Nominations: 2021 ACSA Representatives on NAAB Visiting Team Roster

The ACSA Board of Directors seeks nominees for 2020 ACSA representatives on the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) school Visiting Team Roster for visits that will take place between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2025. The final selection of faculty members participating in the visiting teams will be made by NAAB. 

Nominating Procedure 

• ACSA publishes a call for nominations from the membership via the ACSA website and emails. Nominations and self-nominations must include a cover letter outlining the candidate’s relevant experience and a two-page curriculum vitae.
• The ACSA Nominations Committee shall review all nominations and recommend candidates for inclusion on the Visiting Team Roster to the ACSA board.
• The ACSA Board of Directors annually approves a roster of members eligible to serve as educator representatives on NAAB Visiting Teams for the specified period. 

Candidate Qualifications and Selection Criteria

The candidate must be a full-time faculty member at an ACSA full or candidate member school at the time of nomination. 

The candidate should demonstrate a number of the following preferred qualifications:

• Reasonable length and breadth of full-time teaching experience;
• Experience with outcome-based educational assessment, particularly self-assessment by programs;
• A record of acknowledged scholarship or professional work;
• Administrative experience or experience with the NAAB accreditation process.

As the new 2020 Conditions and Procedures for Accreditation mark a significant break from past models, ACSA sees this as an opportunity to involve new faculty in the accreditation process. ACSA seeks to assemble a Visiting Team Roster that includes faculty from a range of schools so that the backgrounds of educators on NAAB visiting teams can be appropriately matched to the school visited. This includes characteristics such as teaching at public/private institutions, research-intensive institutions, special-focus institutions, and minority-serving institutions. As well, we encourage applications from faculty who are familiar with (a) ACSA’s recent efforts to support architecture schools seeking to be more equitable and inclusive for faculty and students from all backgrounds, and (b) with ACSA’s efforts to support the recognition of a wide range of approaches to research and scholarship, including creative practice. 

NAAB has announced that all visits will take place virtually through December 31, 2023. NAAB is therefore requesting the following of its visiting team members:

• Roster members will be required to complete NAAB’s team training program prior to participating on a visiting team.
• Team members must be available for all the pre-site visit meetings in addition to being fully present for all the days of the visit. Spring visits generally occur between late January and early April of each year; fall visits are typically scheduled between late September and early November. 

Submitting Nominations and Self-Nominations

For consideration, please submit a concise letter of nomination or self-nomination outlining the nominee’s interest and experience, a two-page CV indicating the nominee’s experience with accreditation, and, if not a self-nomination, a letter from the nominee indicating a willingness to serve. Materials are due by February 24, 2021.

ACSA will notify those nominees whose names will be forwarded to NAAB by May 2021. Follow up from NAAB about training and the next steps will come in the ensuing months. 

Nominations should be sent by email attachment in PDF format to Michelle Sturges, Membership Manager, msturges@acsa-arch.org. Subject Line: NAAB Visiting Teams.