Architecture Teachers, Postsecondary

Mixed — a routine tier and a judgment tier. Desk crits on an in-progress model, mid-review course corrections, and teaching a student to see why their section is lying require reading unfinished work in real time — but the same person also writes structures lecture notes, grades codes-and-materials quizzes, and assembles precedent decks, and that half of the load is already draftable, which lands it at 13 rather than 17.

Some physical or field component. You are on your feet in studio for hours, handling chipboard and basswood models, running the laser cutter and shop orientation, and leading site and building tours — physical, but in a climate-controlled studio and shop rather than a scaffold or a live jobsite, so 11 not 16.

Certification preferred, not legally required. Most tenure-line architecture faculty hold a professional licence and many keep a practice, but NAAB accredits the program, not the individual instructor, and nothing in your teaching contract requires a stamp — the licence is a hiring credential and a credibility signal, not a legal chokepoint, which is why this sits at 5.

The human relationship is the product. Studio culture is built on a named critic: students choose your section, carry your criticism into thesis, and come back years later for the recommendation letter and the office introduction — the mentorship is the credential the degree can't print, hence 16.

Meaningful discretion. You decide whose thesis is ready for a jury, whether a scheme is worth pushing another three weeks or killing, and how to grade design where there is no answer key — real, consequential calls, but bounded by department curricula, NAAB student performance criteria, and appealable grades, so 13 rather than 17.