Initiated in 2018, The League Mentorship matches design professionals with students at local public architecture schools for one-on-one advising, mutual learning, and intergenerational community building during the academic year.
Participating students are selected from four architecture programs: Brooklyn’s New York City College of Technology, Harlem’s Spitzer School of Architecture at City College of New York, and two programs based in New Jersey, Michael Graves College of Architecture & Design at Kean University and New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Hillier College of Architecture & Design.
Fogarty Finger mentors and mentees at the 2023-24 League Mentorship Orientation at City Tech, October 8, 2023. Image credit: City Tech/Savonne Andrews
As my career was beginning, I was always incredibly grateful to mentors, both formal and informal, who guided me along the way. I once asked a mentor how I could thank them for their time and advice. They said "Promise that once you're in a position to do the same for someone else, you will."—League Mentor
Over the course of the academic year, each League Mentor meets regularly with their mentee, generally three to four times a semester, offering them guidance as they prepare for careers in architecture and design. To supplement these one-on-one meetings, the League also organizes several group events for both mentors and mentees—including panel discussions and private tours of leading local firms—and facilitates mentors-led skill-sharing and community-building events.
New and returning mentors are required to complete the 2025–26 application form by Tuesday, August 12, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Who is eligible to be a League Mentor?
Mentors should be architects or designers based in the New York/New Jersey area with a professional degree in architecture and at least three years of professional experience after graduation. Mentors do not need to be licensed architects. People of color, first-generation college alumni, and immigrants are strongly encouraged to apply.
Mentors are required to join The Architectural League as members, either as an individual or through their employer’s corporate or institutional membership. In addition to standard member benefits, mentors will be given an additional ticket for their mentee for most League events. To check your membership status, please email membership@archleague.org.
It was valuable that my mentor could relate to me through life experiences and identity, such as being the same gender, a person of color, and a recent college graduate.—League Mentee
What are the responsibilities of a League Mentor?
During the course of the academic year, each mentor-mentee match must meet at least twice per semester—preferably in person—and attend the three mandatory full-cohort events: an orientation in September, a mid-year gathering in February, and an end-of-year studio tour in June.
What types of activities do League Mentors share with their mentees?
Potential activities include: attending a lecture, visiting a museum, touring the mentor’s office or project site, exploring the city, attending the mentee’s studio reviews, providing feedback on the mentee’s portfolio or resume, preparing for job interviews, and discussing potential career pathways.
I am a student interested in mentorship. How do I apply to become a League Mentee?
This program is only open to students currently enrolled in their third year of study or above in a bachelor’s program or any year of a master’s program at the following schools:
If you are a student at one of these schools, please contact your department chair for more information on how to apply.
Being a mentor helps us to exemplify the true nature of an architect: a person who has chosen to pursue lifelong learning, be a steward to the environment, and demonstrate our belief in social responsibility and change.—League Mentor
City College of New York
Established in Manhattan in 1847 as the nation’s first municipal public college, the City College of New York (CCNY) prides itself on enabling social change, propelling generation after generation of students and their descendants up the ladder of economic mobility. The student body of approximately 16,000 is comprised of students from 153 countries who speak over 100 languages.
CCNY’s Bernard & Anne Spitzer School of Architecture has a mission to create a “just, sustainable, and imaginative future for a rapidly urbanizing planet.” Spitzer’s student body numbers approximately 450, spanning across a BArch program and graduate programs in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Sustainability in the Urban Environment. With a rigorous foundation in the core competencies of ecological thinking, design, history & theory, and technology, these programs aim to educate the next generation of innovators as they redefine the role of the architect in the twenty-first century.
New York City College of Technology
New York City College of Technology’s Department of Architectural Technology is the largest undergraduate program of architecture in the tri-state area. As a public design education program rooted in the 1950’s post-war economic pragmatism, it has evolved to equip students with the aesthetic and technical skills to visualize inventive solutions for building design, assembly and analyses. A unique feature of the program is the Building Technology spine which runs parallel to Design Studios for students in all three degree programs.
The department is now NAAB accredited with a professional five-year BArch degree. The four-year baccalaureate degree (BTech) and two-year associate degree (AAS) program enable students to pursue tracks which respond to the proliferation of technical sub-specialties in the building industry. Graduates of the program work for private firms and public agencies establishing a reputation for intellectual energy, technical knowledge and appetite for engaging with industry challenges.
Hillier College of Architecture & Design
The New Jersey Institute of Technology’s New Jersey School of Architecture (NJSoA) was established in 1973 as the state’s first accredited undergraduate architecture program. It soon became one of the earliest schools in the country to bring computers into the design studio. Over the past half century, the NJSoA has built a robust enrollment, adding masters programs in architecture, infrastructure planning, and urban design, as well as a doctoral program in urban systems. This urban emphasis is another hallmark of the NJSOA’s work, which has long focused on engagement with the City of Newark.
In 2008, the School of Art and Design, offering degrees in interior design, industrial design and digital design, joined with the NJSOA to create the College of Architecture and Design. Thanks to a generous gift in 2019 the college was renamed in honor of J. Robert and Barbara A. Hillier. Today, Hillier College of Architecture & Design has graduated more than 4,000 students in the architecture and design disciplines and welcomed over 300 professionals to its full time and part time faculty.
Kean University
Kean University’s School of Public Architecture was developed under the advisement of the influential American architect, Michael Graves, in 2015. The School’s pedagogic structure enables students to work on real architectural and planning projects—public projects that put design in the service of the public good.
Students gain experience working with stakeholders in every public project—clients, community groups, planning commissioners and government officials. In the process, students develop a broad perspective on the way architects approach professional challenges, address client demands and solve client problems, and contribute to a more responsive and responsible built environment.
The School of Public Architecture offers two degree programs: a BA in Architectural Studies and a Master of Architecture (MArch).
I see this as a mutually beneficial relationship, a collective effort to learn from each other. In hindsight, I would have greatly benefited from a mentor while transitioning between academia and praxis.—League Mentor
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