Access and Opportunity
The College of Architecture, Design and Construction believes that the designed and built world is enriched by different perspectives, experiences, and beliefs. We are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive educational environment for our students, faculty and staff. We work to provide resources and opportunities for everyone in the College, including those from communities who have been historically underserved, underrepresented and marginalized.
The CADC strives to educate culturally astute future leaders who foster a climate of respect and open dialogue among stakeholders of all ethnicities and orientations. We achieve this through a variety of industry partnerships, projects that impact underserved communities, research that benefits our land-grant mission, and experiences that challenge and address access and belonging in the world of Architecture, Design and Construction.
We at the College of Architecture, Design and Construction are engaged with the making and re-making of our collective, shared, built environment – and we aim to foster an equitable, tolerant, respectful academic and social context that encourages engagement with distinct perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences to advance a better world.
Goals for the 2024–25 Academic Year
Goal 1: Expand opportunities for current students to engage in intentional discussion surrounding Inclusion and Belonging in the fields of architecture, design and construction.
Goal 2: Leverage faculty expertise and partnerships to broaden research serving underrepresented communities in Alabama.
Goal 3: Provide more opportunities for students at Title 1 Schools in Alabama to engage in architecture, design and construction learning experiences.
Student Experience
NOMAS Places Second in National Student Design Competition
NOMAS has earned second place in the 2023 Barbara G. Laurie Student Design Competition, hosted by the National Organization of Minority Architects.
Architecture Senior Receives 2024 President’s Award
Architecture Senior Leonard Jefferson is the College of Architecture, Design and Construction’s (CADC) 2024 recipient of the prestigious Auburn University President’s Award.
BSCI Senior Building Connections at Auburn
Kameron Mathews, from Hoover, Alabama, is a senior in Auburn’s McWhorter School of Building Science (BSCI), set to graduate in December 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Building Construction and a minor in Business.
BSCI Student Named Panelist at 2024 AGC National Convention
Alli Ayers, a junior in Auburn’s McWhorter School of Building Science (BSCI), has been selected to participate in a panel discussion at the upcoming Association of General Contractors of America (AGC) National Convention on Friday, March 22.
NOMAS
The National Organization of Minority Architects and Designers (Auburn University Student Chapter) is a support system that allows students from all majors within the CADC to bridge the gap of discrimination and minimize its effects in all representative professions.
Our local chapter support system thrives on strong members that voluntarily contribute their time, talents, and resources in order to create a collaboration of true design. Our goal is to provide educational outreach, recruit, motivate, and retain minority students that aspire to vision excellence and success within the college.
Future Students
Construction Management Summer Academy for Young Women
This program is geared toward rising 11th–12th grade students interested in learning about the exciting and diverse career opportunities available in construction management. Students in this full scholarship camp experience the construction industry through activities that incorporate construction drawings, materials and methods, innovative technologies, and more.
Design and Construction Discovery Camp (DCDC)
Participants in the full scholarship, five day/four night camp will complete projects representing CADC's seven undergraduate majors and learn about the career possibilities that follow a degree from the CADC. The camp is open to all students with a focus on students from underrepresented geographic locations and backgrounds.
Alumni Experience
Meet Michael Hicks ’06 '09: SIGD Advisory Council Member
If you’ve got a product, Michael Hicks likely has a container to fit it.
APLA Alumna Set to Become AIA Alabama President in 2025
After growing up an Army brat, Andrea Simpson ’05 learned to thrive in many different situations and environments.
Auburn alumna changing lives at Walter Reed military hospital
Abby Hinson is a prosthetic technician at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. A 2017 graduate of Auburn University’s industrial design program, she fabricates prosthetics for active and retired military amputees and their family members.
CADC Alumnae Found North Alabama Chapter of NAWIC
Sara Beth Wilcox '04 and Andrea Simpson '05 are founding members of the recently chartered North Alabama Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction.
Instruction, Research and Outreach
Auburn University’s mission is defined by the land-grant traditions of service and access rooted in instruction, research, and outreach. The College of Architecture Design and Construction integrates these three pillars throughout our goals of access and opportunity.
Interior Architecture Students Go ‘Inside Birmingham’ at Urban Studio
Spending a week in a food-centric city like Birmingham can feel like summer camp—even when you’re there to study… just ask this summer’s Interior Architecture (ARIA) students in Auburn’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture.
Urban Studio Transforming Historic Smithfield
Nearly a decade after the City of Birmingham was founded, a residential neighborhood was settled towards the western side of the city limits.
Alabama Extension and APLA Address Housing Challenges in Underserved Communities
The Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES) and CADC's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture have forged a partnership designed to improve the lives of Alabama residents.
Strengthening partnerships to develop affordable housing in Selma
When an EF-2 tornado struck Selma, Alabama, in January 2023, it brought terrible destruction to the city, taking broad swaths of trees and homes and endangering hundreds of historic buildings.
Research Spotlight: Junshan Liu
Aderholdt Associate Professor Junshan Liu’s research agenda focuses on the use of technology to interpret and digitally preserve historic structures.
Research Spotlight: Amna Salman
Assistant Professor Amna Salman is a dynamic scholar at the forefront of reshaping construction education and enhancing health and well-being in the built environment.
Architecture Professor Designing Innovative Low-Income Spaces
Xavier Vendrell, a Professor of Architecture in Auburn’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (APLA), recently collaborated with dataAE to design a public housing project in Spain that could easily be mistaken for vacation condos in the United States.
A Renewed Sense of Hope for Birmingham’s Hopewell Community
In 2023, the College of Architecture, Design and Construction’s Urban Studio students collaborated with Project Hopewell, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that aims to enhance community development and provide resources to underserved populations.
Rural Studio
Rural Studio® is an off-campus design-build program in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture located in Hale County. Its mission is not only to educate future architects but also the reaching of sustainable, healthful rural living through both housing and the vital systems we foster to ensure our communities thrive. They are committed to cultivating students who are both local architects and citizens of the world.
Service Learning
Hands-on service projects associated with The McWhorter School of Building Science date back over 25 years through the incorporation of local community projects into the Structures III Concrete class. In recent years, with the addition of the Alison & Jim Gorrie Service Learning Gift and the establishment of the BSCI Field Lab, students have had increased opportunities to participate in local service projects and international service-learning classes.
Archive
Alumni Spotlight: Macy Walker '22
Macy Walker may have graduated from Auburn’s McWhorter School of Building Science fairly recently, but she’s already covered a lot of ground—quite literally.
Student Spotlight: Kaitlin Kirby
Kaitlin Kirby, a senior in the McWhorter School of Building Science, is originally from Lafayette, CA, and is set to graduate in May 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Building Construction.
Assistant Professor Amna Salman Makes CADC History
Amna Salman, a native of Pakistan, has the distinction of being the first graduate of the McWhorter School of Building Science’s new doctoral program, one of only seven programs like it in the nation.
SIGD Students Complete Workshop With The People’s Graphic Design Archive
This past spring, students in Robert Finkel’s Graphic Design History class completed a workshop with The People’s Graphic Design Archive.
ENVD Alum Honored with Black Alumni Award
2016 APLA alum Jason Groomes was honored with a Black Alumni Award at an awards banquet on April 23 as part of Black Alumni Weekend.
CADC Students Take Home Research Symposium Awards
Three students from CADC took home honors in the 2023 Auburn University Student Research Symposium, held March 28.
Alumni Profile: KK Clark '12
BSCI alum KK Clark '12 is a Project Executive with Clark Construction in San Diego, California.
CADC to Host New Design and Construction Discovery Camp
This summer, Design and Construction Discovery Camp will expose rising high school juniors and seniors to each of the six areas of study in the CADC.
Goals Archive
Campus Resources
Below are links to resources and offices on Auburn’s campus supporting access and opportunity initiatives.