About Us

For over 25-years the School of Architecture & Planning (SA+P) has provided students the opportunity to preview and experience the makings of the built and natural environment in the broader perspective of interdisciplinary learning headed toward responsible leadership.  Graduates have joined local firms in various modes of professional practice, while others have accepted positions in state and local government, community groups and organizations, or academic institutions.

The purpose of the School is to be a professionally based academic unit that has a clear commitment to the fundamental qualities that bring together a balanced educational program in the exploration of human and natural environments.  The School's graduate and undergraduate degree programs introduce and promote the sense of interconnectedness between a built form, human behavior, forces of nature, political and economic dynamics characteristic of an urban context.

The School's three graduate programs (Architecture, Landscape Architecture, City & Regional Planning) prepare students to address the challenges associated with systems of the built environment and their integration with systems in the natural environment. The objective is to link domains of environmental (natural patterns and flows), economic (financial patterns and equity), and social (human, cultural, and spiritual) as related to the professional practices of planning, design and management. This leads to the realization of a sustainable urban environment that is beautiful, humane, socially appropriate, and restorative.

The undergraduate program in Architecture & Environmental Design (AREN) is also an important component of the SA+P family.  The four-year pre-professional Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Environmental Design degree program is structured to integrate elements of the built and natural environment with the professional ability to produce a meaningful response to the changing needs of urban society patterned by a wide cultural influence.  The program advances the concepts of critical thinking so that each student can visualize, discuss and represent a detailed conceptualization, application, investigation, syntheses, and an evaluation of the connections between each concept.  Students are taught to accept responsibility for their role in creating environments as well as how to communicate ethical practices that lead to informed decision making.

In Fall 2010, the SA+P was approved to offer degrees for a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Construction Management, with its core mission to educate students on basic construction management principles and practices as well as their application to sustainable construction projects.

In Fall 2012, the School of Architecture and Planning moved to its new building, the Center for the Built Environment and Infrastructure Studies (CBEIS), a 126,000 GSF USGBC Gold LEED certified shared facility for academic engineering and design programs at Morgan State University. Even with our new building, the School began its exclusive online Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Urban Communities, for professionals and students who want to enhance their understanding of issues critical to urban sustainability and underserved communities.

Our B.S. in Interior Design program is the only 4-year degree program in the state of Maryland. The program aims to improve the quality of life of people and their communities through the design of healthy, safe, and environmentally sound interior spaces. The program started offering classes in Fall 2018. 

Starting in Fall 2022, the School will offer its first doctoral degree in Architecture, Urbanism, and Built Environments. The doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) is an advanced degree that focuses on preparing the next generation of academics and professionals to create innovative and transformative evidence-based solutions to address the challenges of contemporary and future urban built environments.

As such, SA+P students become knowledgeable of planning, design, and management as predictive decision-making processes by the examination of human factors involved in the necessarily collaborative activity of environmental intervention and preservation.  The aim of the SA+P is to graduate competent and dedicated professionals.