Architect magazine: 'The Future Belongs to Woodbury'

To understand the future of architecture, Architect magazine's latest issue declares "look no further than Woodbury University in Southern California." Woodbury, where Hispanic and minority students make up the majority of architecture students, is featured as the cover story in the March magazine from the American Institute of Architects.

The recognition that Woodbury students are, as School of Architecture Dean Norman Millar says, "cresting the wave of the future" is only the latest for the 126-year-old university. The Education Trust singled out Woodbury last year as a school where Hispanic students are thriving, noting Woodbury's Hispanic students graduate at rates well above the rate for Hispanic students nationally and at rates similar to those for white students. Excelencia in Education also recognized Woodbury's undergraduate architecture program for its strong record of serving Hispanic students and the U.S. Department of Education awarded the university a $2.8 million grant to expand its Master of Architecture program and increase student opportunities including those for Hispanic students to succeed at the graduate level. And, a $600,000 grant from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to the Arid Lands Institute at Woodbury University will educate students and stakeholders about the complexities of problems surrounding water in the West and seek solutions to this challenge in low-income communities.

"Woodbury's students are typically the first in their families to go to college, and they're coming here in search of their entre to economic success," says David M. Rosen, Ph.D., senior vice president, Academic Affairs, Woodbury University. "For them, a college education is their ticket to fulfilling their dreams, the dreams of their families, and the dreams of their communities. Woodbury feels a deep responsibility to help turn these aspirations into reality."