A Petition for the Bachelor of Science in Architecture Program for the University of Texas at Brownsville

The Situation at Hand Currently, the University of Texas at Brownsville offers to its students a two-year program for an Associate of Science in Architecture degree. In its short history, this program has produced twelve (12) graduates, six (6) of which have gone on to continue education elsewhere. In the Fall of 2011, the UTB Architecture Program consisted of a total of 115 students, an increase in attendance of 47% since the program’s inception in 2009. The graduating class of 2012 consists of sixteen (16) students, many of which intend to continue toward their goal of a Bachelor and Master degree. For those students, educational success means leaving the Rio Grande Valley to attend other universities in Lubbock, San Antonio, College Station, Arlington, or elsewhere. In the Fall of 2011, a new Bachelor of Science degree plan was approved by the University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. Pending now is the approval of the UT System Board of Regents and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. However, due to the ongoing separation of UTB and TSC, the necessary presentation for approval has been seemingly postponed. Until the matter is finally demonstrated and approved, any student who decides to continue their architectural education further than the two-year program will not be able to do so in the Rio Grande Valley. Our Cause The extension of the curriculum into the four-year degree program would bring in greater amounts of students and provide them a less-expensive and more practical alternative, while keeping an architecture program rooted in local affairs and culture of Rio Grande Valley communities. Even as they learn the fundamentals of design, the curriculum for the program thus far has always revolved around the importance of active involvement in the community. Past course projects have included the development of design proposals for low-income housing for the Community Development Corporation of Brownsville, design proposals for Market Square in downtown Brownsville, design proposals for Lt. George Gutierrez Jr. Park in Harlingen, maps for the Brownsville hike-and-bike task force, and proposals for the 11th Street Corridor in downtown Brownsville. Those students already part of the program have seen how their efforts can actually make a difference in their world. The continuation of education in a setting as bolstering as this is imperative and should be approved with all due haste.