The Future Belongs to Woodbury

The population at Woodbury is broadly representative of the valley community that the school calls home. But it is also indicative of the direction that American higher education-including architectural education-is taking as a whole. Woodbury, along with several other institutions, including Cal Poly Pomona, the University of Houston, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, finds itself at the forefront of a new trend: the rise of the minority architecture student, and in particular of the Hispanic architecture student. In fact, Hispanics now make up 14 percent of all architecture students, according to a 2009 report by the National Architectural Accrediting Board. In coming years, that number is likely to rise significantly, as the percentage of minorities in the general collegiate population expands. Projections indicate that by 2015 the number of high school students of Hispanic descent will have risen by about 50 percent in just 10 years, and Asian students, by 24 percent.

In fact, about 70 percent of Woodbury students are the first in their families to attend college, and many are unprepared for the academic rigors of a collegiate education. "Our students have to do remedial math and writing in their first year," Millar says. Special emphasis is placed on writing, which helps them to "develop their ideas and to make critical arguments." In 2008, Woodbury's B.Arch. program received a citation from Excelencia in Education, a national organization that recognizes institutions for accelerating the achievement of Latino students. The six-year graduation rate for all Woodbury students entering in 2004 was 47 percent; Hispanic B.Arch. students graduated at the same rate, which is a bit short of the national average of 57 percent.