​Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter. Image courtesy of Woodbury University.

For this installment of Deans List we talk to Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter, one month after starting her new post as Dean of the School of Architecture at Woodbury University, about the importance of economic diversity and the school's commitment to egalitarian and practical education. 

Woodbury University's inaugural class was roughly 50% male and 50% female, which is quite shocking considering the fact that its very first students graced their halls back in 1884. This commitment to equality is still very much a part of Woodbury's DNA; the school places diversity, whether it be ethnic, gender and/or economic, as one of its core values. At its origins, Woodbury's founder wanted to establish an institution that could respond to the needs of the city's growing business community. At a time, the school could even boast that 10% of Los Angeles' citizenry was attending the institution. The original programming for the school centered around practical areas of business such as bookkeeping, commercial law, and telegraphy, and was largely pre-professional. Today the school has expanded to have two campuses—one in Los Angeles and one in San Diego—and four schools—the School of Business, the School of Architecture, the School of Liberal Arts and its newest, the School of Media Culture & Design—but its creation story remains heavily woven into the fabric and culture of the University. 

What do you see as Woodbury’s pedagogical stance and how would you characterize their programming?

An architecture program should enfold practice, critical thinking and making. Woodbury School of Architecture does this by empowering students to ask questions, to weigh alternatives, to continually reframe new problems, and to challenge the status quo. Our faculty is comprised of a powerful balance of distinguished practitioners—people like Barbara Bestor, Jeanine Centouri, Annie Chu, Catherine Herbst, Marcel Sanchez-Prieto, Hector Perez—research scholars—people like Mark Neveu, Ewan Branda, Anthony Fontenot, Paulette Singley, and Jason Rebillot—and what I like to call experimental makers—Joshua G. Stein, Heather Flood, Mark Ericson, Heather Peterson—along with a host of other passionate educators.

We have a DNA of egalitarian and practical education which I think we all take pride in

This balance between practice, scholarship, critical thinking, and making has allowed us to develop a very balanced pedagogy that helps us cultivate a unique design voice that’s equally committed to practice, theoretical discourse, formal and technological inquiry, and social equity. We are a really optimistic school. That is something I hear a lot—that we share an optimistic belief in the power of design to address urgent contemporary issues. The university itself is committed to creative professionalism. Woodbury University was established in 1884 as a business college and is a university committed to practice-based majors. We have a DNA of egalitarian and practical education which I think we all take pride in.

The School of Architecture consists first of the architecture program, which is the largest program at the University. We have two locations, one in Los Angeles and one in San Diego. The architecture major itself is quite young. It was launched in 1984, a hundred years after the school’s founding. We also have an interior design program that is quite old—launched in 1931. Our graduate Real Estate Development Program is 10 years old now and based in San Diego. We have growing masters of architecture programs in Los Angeles and San Diego and we have brand new masters of interior architecture and landscape architecture programs. 

I would say all of our programs in the School of Architecture are committed to holistically bringing criticality to practice.

What kind of student do you think would flourish at Woodbury and why? Do you see this shifting during your time here?

One of our hallmarks is our diversity and economic,—and economic is really important here—ethnic, and academic backgrounds of our students that reflects Southern California itself. We pride ourselves on this diversity so it makes it difficult to generalize. Our school is a role model for the direction in which the profession is heading in improving gender parity and ethnic diversity among its members and reaffirming the importance of ethical conduct and social responsibility.

We also like to say that we are an engine for upward mobility.

We also like to say that we are an engine for upward mobility. Many of our students are local, they are first generation students and a lot of them come from working-class, immigrant families. We also have a lot of international students. And we also have students from the opposite end of the economic spectrum so I would say that our programs provide a fertile mixing ground for students at multiple levels of the spectrum to work together and participate in helping to build and shape our programs.

Our former dean, Norman Millar, liked to say that we cultivate architect-citizens, and what unites our community is the desire to make a difference. Students come here recognizing our optimism and hopefulness about the power and possibilities of design to change the world. So, when we talk about architect-citizens, we’re thinking about architects as leaders that are actively participating not only in the day-to-day activity of designing buildings and environments, but also leading the discourse through entrepreneurial collaborations, helping change policy at the urban level, developing government initiatives and pushing the boundaries of architectural practice. We want to draw that type of optimistic leader to our program.

How do you practically teach students a code of ethics in architecture?

In leading by example. Ethics encompasses sustainable practice, civic engagement and ingenuity in designing with fewer resources.  Another hallmark of Woodbury is that we address real world problems in our studios. We expect our students to develop as professionals who hold both personal and social responsibility and that too is part of our mission and identity. Understanding the implications of the decisions that we make as designers in the built environment is deeply ingrained in our coursework. For example, we offered a professional practice class where students took on the 2030 initiative to begin facing the challenges of designing a zero carbon future.

We are one of the few disciplines that weaves together multiple conversations and connections

Our students take it to heart as much as our faculty does, this idea that as architect-citizens, we hold a responsibility to the larger public. We are one of the few disciplines that weaves together multiple conversations and connections: engaging with governmental agencies, talking to the industry, communicating with clients. We're weaving together an ethical imperative that reaches all these different constituents and communities. This conversation is something that you will find throughout our curriculum—in our history theory classes, in our comprehensive studios, in our practice classes, and in our building technology classes. Our students enter the profession very aware of its limitations but also excited by them because with limitations come opportunities. Within these limitations, they start to see how to reach outside of given boundaries and create new perspectives and new design possibilities.

What do you see as the biggest challenge either academically or professionally facing architecture students today?

Each of us at the school, including administrators, faculty, and staff, are acutely aware of the cost of education in this country. As dean, one of my primary goals is outreach and establishing scholarship funds such as the AIA San Fernando Valley Scholarship and working with the San Fernando Valley chapter who recently gave us $160,000 last year to establish a scholarship fund. I’ve been working to help build a Norman R. Millar Scholarship Endowment in honor of our late Dean. It’s these kinds of gifts that underscore the value of what we are providing as a school to the larger community and the profession, but they are also a way that the professional community can help recognize the cost and the burden placed on students. It’s a really rich dialogue and something we have to have on a national level.

In every program, we feel an obligation to ensure that our students hit the ground running in their careers upon graduation. One of the ways to address the cost is to make sure our students are gainfully employed. What I find exciting is when we, as architects, begin to speculate about the future and uncertainty, thinking about what architecture will be in 10 years. Architecture education, ultimately, is speculating about change and we do a great job preparing our students for change. And not just thinking about change, but actually being agents of change. We prepare students to participate in the conversation about how the profession is going to evolve.

You mention your predecessor. How would you describe his tenure? What do you want to keep and what you want to change?

I worked very closely, for 13 years, side by side with Dean Norman Millar. What I liked most about working with him was his idealism and his compassion. He was an ACSA president and very engaged in working at the national level to rethink pedagogy and architectural education. One of the programs he helped launch was our Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure. He was instrumental on a national level in getting ACSA, NCARB, AIA and other collaterals at the table together to talk about licensure paths.

I have worked for some incredible leaders. Peter Cook taught me how a leader advances raw talent of emerging designers and brings them onto the faculty. Bob Stern had an open door policy and built a strong sense of community and celebrating events was very much a part of his tenure. That's something I'm really interested in making a part of the culture here at Woodbury School of Architecture—the celebration of our people, of our of our accomplishments, of our students and faculty. 

I'm excited about continuing our conversation about the multiple ways in which diversity can express itself in academia.

When I think about what type of leader I’d like to be, there are thing to be learned from each of those experiences. I’m hoping I can bring those together and continue to support the amazing faculty initiatives that are happening here. I see myself primarily as a supporter, a connector and a producer, making sure to maintain an agenda that supports the spectrum of diversity in architecture. When I think about diversity, I think not just about gender and ethnic diversity but also about multi-dimensional teaching methods and promoting diverse approaches to design and alternative practices. I'm excited about continuing our conversation about the multiple ways in which diversity can express itself in academia.

Do you have a method or process for deciding how to integrate what you see in practice in academia?

Every one of our students, throughout the university, is required to complete work experience which underscores our identity. We just launched the Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure program that I previously mentioned. We’re among the first 21 programs nationally to offer IPAL. We’re working with a consortium of professional offices here in Southern California to place student interns as part of this program. The intention is to be able to integrate education with work experience so that students can take their exams upon graduation and effectively reduce the amount of time it takes to get licensed. That’s pretty exciting.

We have a dedicated career office and our career and outreach coordinator, Catherine Roussel, is a licensed architect. It's pretty unusual to have a licensed architect as a career counselor and demonstrates our commitment to professional practice.

We’re also committed to alternative modes of professional engagement. One example is our ACE Initiative, our Agency for Civic Engagement. It’s directed by Jeanine Centuori and was founded to empower students to work with underserved communities through public interest design. Every semester, Jeanine will identify a nonprofit in Los Angeles and the studio—usually around 20 students—will work on a design build project in 15 weeks. The results are pretty magical. For example, they just completed a project with Watts Labor community Action Committee. Every semester, students design a project where they are not only working with clients and nonprofits, but also have the opportunity to put their designs into practice.

In 10 years, 60% of our graduates of that one-year Real Estate Development Program have gone on to build projects incubated in the program

Our RED Program is another way we engage students in a very different type of practice. In our real estate development program, students go beyond the conventional architectural purview and engage with business, market analysis and partnership agreements. They have faculty teaching funding proposals and how to set up leasing strategies. What’s remarkable is that in 10 years, something like 60 percent of our graduates of that one-year Real Estate Development Program have gone on to build projects incubated in the program, primarily in San Diego, but more and more throughout the world.

We also do sponsored studios. We have two studios now sponsored by Gensler. Last year, we had an interior architecture studio that was sponsored by Tadashi Shoji. Those are studios where we're working directly with practices and practitioners to engage in real world problems brought into the studio. We had a group of 10 students this summer working in the office of NAC, an office here in Los Angeles, working on a school for homeless children. The students were physically in the office of this practice. That was another wonderful opportunity that underscores our commitment to practice and finding creative ways of teaching or inculcating students as to the expectations of professional practice.

How do you familiarize yourself with trends within the architectural profession and how do you adapt these into the programming and curriculum?

I would say that one of the beauties of being a small school is our interconnectedness. Every one of our faculty is active in different fields and different associations. For example, I'm active in the L.A. chapter AIA and just completed a 3-year term on their Board. I'm on the advisory board of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design. As Director of WUHO, Woodbury’s Hollywood gallery, I'm dedicated to elevating and demystifying the profession of architecture and interior architecture. Acting as director allows me to actively participate in the architectural discourse of Southern California. Curating and producing exhibitions is a unique form of leadership with a broad-reaching impact on the cultural milieu. We are committed to hosting exhibitions that reposition important voices in architecture and design often overlooked by mainstream sources, and advancing the profession through programming that highlights architectural innovation. In a major metropolis, that does not have a permanent architecture collection in any of its museums, WUHO provides a venue for emerging architects who would not otherwise have an opportunity to publicly display work.

My colleague Marc Neveu is the editor for JAE and extremely active with ACSA. We have faculty, like Jose Parral for example, who is active in the landscape community in San Diego. And each of us brings conversations back to the community and directly into the classroom. Our faculty are participating in these larger national conversations—and we find ways to support and encourage our faculty to do so —about the trends both in the profession but also in pedagogy and finding creative ways of bringing these back into the curriculum. We take pride in constantly thinking about the profession and what we should be teaching our students and that's a very vital conversation we have here at Woodbury.

How important do you think it is for the leader of an architecture school to either already have been or still to be a practicing architect?

As a practicing architect, I can leverage the connections that I have with these national professional organizations that benefit my students.

It's important. I'm following in the footsteps set by my prior deans here at Woodbury and for us, it's important to have a practicing architect leading a school. As a practicing architect, I can leverage the connections that I have with these national professional organizations to benefit my students. I can reach with conviction across the professional academic divide to develop opportunities for our faculty and students. IPAL is an example where I can reach out to colleagues in the city and personally call in connections and ask them to help our interns or to place our students. I also think that our students here appreciate the tactility of my work.

By the end of your tenure, what do you hope to change and what do you hope will be different?

We are lucky to be in a state like California that values progressive ideas and is leading the conversation about the effects of climate change in our built environment, as well as giving a voice to underrepresented populations. Of course, looking at our contested border condition, that's something my colleagues in San Diego are constantly having to confront, question and bring to the classroom. I don't think it's any accident that Southern California has flourishing creative industries and our faculty are passionately and actively participating in these progressive dialogues as they work in the city. Through a range of initiatives, institutes, and unique learning opportunities, they are optimistically teaching our students that architectural design really can address these significant challenges. I want to develop these initiatives, institutes, and learning opportunities even further. Part of what I can do is build partnerships that help raise resources and funds, and lead outreach for those connections to take place. 

In 2011, Architect Magazine published an article titled 'The Future Belongs to Woodbury.' It describes how Woodbury exemplifies the demographic revolution in architecture, and I truly believe that the future belongs to us. As a new school, we want students to actively participate helping develop our programs. And we continue to make sure that the future really does belong to our students. That is my hope.