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The University of Southern California is an internationally recognized research university located at the center of a dynamic Los Angeles. USC established architecture as an academic discipline within its College of Liberal Arts in 1914. By 1919, the University had established a Department of Art and Architecture under the leadership of Arthur Weatherhead and had begun to graduate such renowned alumni as Paul R. Williams (the 1st African-American member of the American Institute of Architects). By 1925, a stand-alone School of Architecture was established, and a full professional Bachelor of Architecture curriculum was put in place in 1928. The first of several Master of Architecture programs was approved in 1932. The USC School of Architecture ranks as one of the top ten architecture schools in the United States with two Pritzker Prize-winning alumni, Frank Gehry ‘54 and Thom Mayne ’69.

The School has been educating explorers since its founding in 1919. Today, the School of Architecture is organized around four key fields of study: architecture, landscape architecture + urbanism, heritage conservation and building science. At the undergraduate level, the School offers both a five-year professional degree (BArch) and a four-year non-professional degree (BSAS) in Architecture. The School offers the following graduate degrees: Master of Architecture +3 (accredited), Master of Architecture +2 (accredited), Post-Professional Master of Advanced Architecture (MAAS), Master of Building Science, Master of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism (accredited), and Master of Heritage Conservation. Additionally, graduate students may obtain interdisciplinary certificates within these areas. The majority of students at the School also participate in diverse study abroad offerings in Europe, Asia, and Central & South America.

Collectively the School’s programs aspire to support design excellence, technological innovation, sensitive urbanism, inspired professionalism, and intelligent globalism.