Sep '09 - Feb '12
Many students in third year are just trying to make it to Italy next semester at this point, and yet contrary to what seems the current standard, I'm incredibly excited about the work I'll be producing and the work our studio section is doing.
Possibly even more so than at other schools(?), education in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent is a lot like a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' novel. I find that I'm receiving exactly the kind of education that I could hope for right now, but only because of the sequence of studio professors that I'm selecting. It seems very possible to come here and graduate with a completely different education than another peer. At first this wide array of viewpoints was frustrating...from traditional and technical to concept driven and contemporary. But now I'm at a point where I only see benefits from this situation because it's forcing me to go out of my way to get what I want out of Kent. The nice is thing is that what I 'want' is here (just in nooks and crannies worth a little searching) which only makes me more determined to succeed according to my own visions of my future. (What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, they say?)
Which is really, pretty cool.
For me, thankfully, I get some what of a leg up in this. Being in the Honors College allows me the opportunity to schedule prior to undergrad scheduling...which means I get first pick of assigned studio professors. Not everyone is so lucky. Unless you teach a first year experience course, there are few other ways to get priority scheduling that I know of. (Although there have been times when every studio section instructor is listed TBA and selecting a section becomes, in effect, a lottery. An uncomfortable place to be in to say the least.)
But like I said I've been lucky and was able to choose my studio this semester as well...and I'm pretty exited about it. More about what we've / I've been doing these first three weeks soon when my schedule lines up with the print room's (so I can pay 1.50 per scan to archive some drawings). Here's an image via camera phone of our first informal pin-up. Featuring, of course, our version of pin-up space and a staircase to nowhere. >>>
![Kent State University [Justin]](/images/nav/related_blog.png "Kent State University [Justin]")
6 Comments
Glad you're having a solid beginning to third year.
Kent does offer a very custom education, and I'm glad to see the photo of Strand's class! What an amazing studio with a fantastic professor who offers unparalleled dedication and instruction to her students.
Like you, I was in the Honors College and had priority scheduling. However, I will warn you, it did not help me at all in fourth year. I hope for everyone's sake that this changes, but we all just signed up, wrote on a piece of paper our top 3 choices the first day (both semesters) and then were randomly chosen (once out of a hat?!?!) which professor we'd have. I hope you all can get this changed.
All the luck in the world to you. Kent's ultimate advantage is their Italy program - I can't tell you enough how unbelievable it was. Good luck.
Ha. We did scheduling that way 4th year greg, only if we were in honors we were supposed to put an asterisk by our name. Apparently you missed that memo.
Strand's studio is pretty awesome, Micah, enjoy it while you have it. It's one of the most rewarding I've had. Do you know where your site will be or what you'll be doing? I think she alternates between a few different ones....we were in akron. and eating. and thinking about eating. and diagramming about thinking about eating. it was a blast.
The photo makes the space look almost-appropriate.
uh, what's up with that scheduling system?!
and this is my second time with strand, and believe me, i have every intention of basking in the glow far away from reality. do not know about site yet, but she mentioned something about a restaurant with fast and slow eating spaces. but that's studio part two. i'll have all the deets on part one soon.
and greg, thanks for the well wishes.
Jake - we were told honors didn't matter. Bummer, I know.
I have been waiting for approval of my bio from an admin to begin an OSU blog...how long did that process take? It's been about 5 days...
it'll probably come. don't fret.
I mean...you figure the people running the site aren't exactly sitting on gmail like me waiting for school bloggers to post bios. I assume it's a once a week email check.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.