The League Mentorship

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 and Design.

Partner Institutions

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, Urban Studies and the Built Environment, 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 and Sustainability 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 and 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 and 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 am a current architecture student. How do I become a 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 above schools. If you are a student at one of these schools, please contact your department chair for more information on how to apply.

Support

The League’s work is made possible, in part, by the members and supporters of The Architectural League, the J. Clawson Mills Scholarship Fund, and public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Support is also provided by the Next Generation Fund, which supports the League’s investment in early-career architects and designers and provides unified support for the League Prize, Emerging Voices, and the League’s Student and Mentorship Programs.