IU master's of architecture degree proposed for Bloomington campus

The IU Board of Trustees academic affairs and university policies committee unanimously approved a proposal for a master’s of architecture degree at its meeting Thursday at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

The plan calls for a three-year degree program that accepts 20 to 30 students each year. IU Bloomington Provost Lauren Robel said she expects many of those students will come to the program with degrees from the IU Bloomington campus. She said students with undergraduate degrees in comprehensive design and interior design will have a slightly shorter track to earning the degree.

Part of the motivation for the new degree came from a partnership with the Community Education Coalition of Columbus, Indiana. That entity funded the facility for the IU Center for Art + Design in Columbus. This brought IU students to a city known for its architecture.

Joseph Irwin Miller, former chairman and CEO of Columbus-based Cummins Inc., established the Cummins Foundation in 1954, which provided community institutions with money to hire world-renowned architects to design schools, churches and other public buildings.

“Architecture programs from all over the country take students to Columbus,” Robel said.