UNION — Kean University's plans to open a school architecture now face opposition from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, which claims the program would be a wasteful duplication and that Kean has failed to seek approvals for the new school.

In October, Kean University announced the formation of the Michael Graves School of Architecture, named for the acclaimed architect who has a Princeton firm and is architecture professor emeritus at Princeton University. The new program will offer a four-year bachelor of art degree in architecture, and a two-year master’s degree.

NJIT in Newark contends the two public schools, about 10 miles apart, serve the same populations, and the Newark institute's architecture school already has the capacity to serve the region with a program chartered by the state in 1973. NJIT’s program accommodates up to 250 students in a five-year bachelor’s program.

“If you have the state involved in sponsored programs, they would have to have a geographical disparity or offer different programs. I think it would hard not to come to that conclusion,” said Urs Gauchat, NJIT Dean of the School of Architecture and Design.

Kean counters that it will have a program emphasizing students' drawings to them give a stronger feel for their projects before they used computer programs.

"The market differentiators for the curriculum [at Kean's proposed school] is Michael Graves’ philosophy of design – to draw by hand first so that the students see, 'feel' and experience the new building spatially," said David Mahoney, acting dean of the new school at Kean.

Once the drawing is complete, it will be transferred to a computer that "becomes an execution tool, not an ideation tool," Mahoney said.

NJIT also accuses Kean of unveiling the new school without following the normal steps of seeking approval from the New Jersey Presidents’ Council, but Kean responds that plans will be submitted to the Presidents' Council after an internal review, following the procedures of Kean's own University Curriculum Committee. Kean plans to open the school in September 2015.

According to NJIT, applications to the school of architecture have dropped nationwide since the recession, leaving open slots in many programs, but Kean points to a federal Bureau of Labor Statistics report published in January that predicts the number of jobs for architects is expected to increase 17 percent from 2012 to 2022.

James Castiglione, president of the Kean Federation Teachers, said faculty members also question the new program.

“The faculty’s primary concern is the always the quality of education. What effect will this program have on existing programs?” Castiglione said.

The university first approached Graves about developing a new school in 2013, after students in Kean's Robert Busch School of Design requested more architecture programs, university spokeswoman Marsha McCarthy said. She said Graves serves as chair of the advisory board to the new school.

In March, Graves firm, the Michael Graves Design, received a $75,000 contract from the Kean board of trustees for landscaping work at the university campus in the Wenzhou region of China. The cost will be covered by the Chinese government, McCarthy said. Kean is also planning to open an architecture school at the Wenzhou campus.

Any college opening a new school program must submit an application to the Presidents' Council, and Kean has not yet filed an application, said Alan Guenther of the state Office of the Secretary of Higher Education.

He said the council's Academic Issues Committee would review the application and make a recommendation to the full council.

If the council decided the program duplicated efforts or was too costly or exceeded Kean’s academic mission, the plan for the program would be submitted to the Secretary of Higher Education for a decision, Guenther said.

He said the secretary would not take any action if the council approves Kean’s plan.

NJIT and Princeton University have the only accredited architecture programs in the state.



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