2025-2026 Academic Catalog
Welcome to Virginia Tech! We are excited that you are here planning your time as a Hokie.
Welcome to Virginia Tech! We are excited that you are here planning your time as a Hokie.
The College of Architecture, Arts, and Design is comprised of four schools. The School of Architecture includes accredited undergraduate and graduate programs in architecture. The School of Design includes accredited undergraduate and graduate programs in landscape architecture, interior design, and an undergraduate program in industrial design. The School of Visual Arts offers undergraduate programs in art history, creative technologies, studio art, and graphic design as well as a Master of Fine Arts in creative technologies and a Master's in Material Culture and Public Humanities, jointly with the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. The School of Performing Arts offers undergraduate programs in music, theatre, and cinema as well as a Master’s in Theatre. The School of Performing Arts also offers a graduate certificate in arts leadership. These programs share a common purpose—to understand and shape the spaces and places where we live, work and play.
Research and outreach programs supplement instructional efforts and are carried out through college centers and laboratories. Specialized research and outreach centers offer students and faculty members opportunities for concentrated investigations in such areas as history and theory of art and architecture, housing, community design, high performance learning environments, music education, community health, women in architecture, environmental design, design research, and visual design.
The college offers a range of advanced digital technologies including an array of rapid prototyping devices and a wide range of computing and graphic equipment in support of the instructional and research programs of the college. The Environmental Systems Laboratory (ESL) and the Research and Demonstration Facility (RDF) are available to faculty members and students for the conduct of research, in-depth investigations of environmental systems, prototype development, and industrial, graphic, and product design. To support these endeavors, the college has the Virtual Environments Laboratory (VE Lab), Center for Advanced Visual Media, and the Visual Design Studio for Education, Research, Exhibition, and Outreach.
The Art and Architecture Library, a branch of the University Libraries, is located in Cowgill Hall and houses more than 60,000 volumes, 200 periodicals, and 65,000 architectural slides. The college also provides media facilities - VTR systems, photographic darkroom, printmaking, ceramics, and cinematographic space and equipment, 3-D printing, and plastics, wood and metal shops.
The college's Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center and Northern Virginia Center in Old Town Alexandria provide opportunities for architecture, landscape architecture, public administration, and urban and regional planning students to spend one or more semesters in the Washington, DC metropolitan area examining the range of design and planning problems found in large urban centers. In addition to classes, studios, and curricula at the undergraduate and graduate levels, the centers offer research and continuing education opportunities for students, faculty, and alumni, and facilitates participation in the rich educational and cultural opportunities of the greater Washington area.
The Europe Studio, based at the university's Steger Center for European Studies and Architecture in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland, provides undergraduate and graduate study opportunities for students college-wide. Studios, seminars, and organized travel are offered. The college also sponsors an array of additional study abroad opportunities, including study-travel programs elsewhere in the world.
Students who wish to combine degree options within the college or with related disciplines within the university should contact the major school or department regarding special undergraduate and graduate program requirements.
Dean: Lu Liu
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Kathryn Clarke Albright
Interim Associate Dean for Research and Creative Scholarship: Michael Borowski
Associate Dean for Graduate Studies: Paul Emmons
Associate Dean for Outreach and Engagement: Ariana Wyatt
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