As I begin my term as NAAB President, I am grateful to ACSA for nominating me to the NAAB Board of Directors and to my fellow directors for entrusting me with the awesome task of leading the organization this year. It is an honor to serve in this capacity, and I look forward to advancing our shared commitment to architectural education.
I refer to my career as one focused on “Teaching | Practice” – I teach, I practice, and I try to educate students on ways they might develop future practices through the educational programs I have led. As a teacher, practitioner, and champion of our field, I have dedicated myself to providing outstanding educational experiences and preparing students to become creative design professionals, who will use their talents to better their communities. As the 2025 President of NAAB, I dedicate myself to helping programs seek innovation in education and identify new ways to meet and maintain the conditions for accreditation.
The challenges facing our built environment are numerous, and our disciplines are changing constantly. Successful design schools must be agile and ready to adapt to shifting demands. When I read the 2020 Conditions for Accreditation, I am heartened by the list of seven goals that align very closely with my own hopes and aspirations for an evolving discipline:
1. Promote excellence and innovation in architecture education
2. Allow program flexibility that adapts to a dynamic context
3. Encourage distinctiveness among programs
4. Support equity, diversity, and inclusion in architecture education and the profession
5. Increase access to the profession of architecture
6. Stimulate the generation of new knowledge
7. Protect the public interest
I have always been motivated by a desire to work with others to encourage innovation in architectural education, to create an environment that allows schools to seek new paths towards meeting accreditation standards, to foreground new agendas, and to increase access and diversity among the profession’s many people. NAAB maintains shared standards while encouraging experimentation, diversity, novel approaches, and multiple degree pathways to support students from all backgrounds and with a wide range of professional goals. I am greatly encouraged that the changes made between the 2014 and 2020 Conditions are aligned with these goals.
If the experiences of the last several years are any indication, design and education are at an important crossroads. Not only are the professions rapidly changing, but also higher education itself is experiencing disruptions that have compelled us to reflect upon our mission and vision. A focus on the outcomes of the educational process and student success, enhancing diversity and access, integrating design-research with teaching, disseminating knowledge more widely and inclusively, and engaging global design communities are all critically important goals for the future of architectural education.
At such a time of rapid change and increased uncertainty, I believe that by working together as faculty of a diverse range of schools and as a community of students, professionals, and regulators, we can enhance existing initiatives and develop new ways to address current issues facing design education as well as broader global challenges. Architecture is a broad field that demands a diversity of approaches. I believe NAAB, as the accreditor for architecture, working in collaboration with related organizations, including ACSA, AIAS, AIA, NCARB, and NOMA, is well-positioned to help schools of architecture develop unique and forward-thinking programs that address evolving challenges while preparing students for the future.
I am excited for the year ahead and eager to engage with you in advancing architectural education.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey L. Day, FAIA, NCARB
2025 NAAB President
Professor of Architecture & Landscape Architecture
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Director, FACT designbuild program
Founding Principal, Actual Architecture Co.