BS of Architectural Engineering

Enjoy Planning, Designing, or Constructing Buildings?

Architectural Engineering is the profession that offers an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to the:

• planning,
• design,
• construction, and
• operation of buildings.

Architectural engineers have the primary responsibility for the design of:

• structural,
• heating,
• cooling,
• electrical,
• lighting, and
• fire protection systems

for all building types, but may also design systems for:

• acoustical,
• communications,
• water and waste water,
• vibration, and
• site plan analysis and orientation.

Architectural engineers use their knowledge of mathematics and science and analytical skills as professional engineers to design “green” buildings that encourage sustainability and energy efficiency. Architectural engineers partner with architects to design modern state-of-the-art buildings to serve the needs of society.

Undergraduate Program

Architectural Engineering deals with all engineering aspects of building performance, integrated with the building's architectural requirements. Architectural engineering students study all engineering aspects of building performance systems including structural systems design, heating ventilation and air conditioning design, electrical and power design, and construction and project management. Our four year curriculum also includes courses in architectural design intended to impart appreciation and basic understanding of aesthetic design and to give the student an understanding of architectural design and it relation to engineering. The design experience is culminated in a year-long capstone design course.

The Architectural Engineering program at Tennessee State University is an ABET- accredited Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering degree.

Most graduates work in the firms that do structural, HVAC, and electrical design. They may also work for smaller specialty firms that focus on any of the building systems design. Some graduates work as facilities managers or in the construction management area for large company. Some pursue graduate degree in Architecture or in other specialty branches of engineering. Graduates after several years in practice, are engaged in professional career in building industry.

Graduate Program

Currently Architectural Engineering Program does not offer a graduate program. Graduates from our Architectural Engineering Program may pursue graduate degrees in architectural engineering, architecture, or in other engineering fields from any accredited institutions.

For admission to any of the college of Engineering graduate programs, the prospective graduate student should apply through the TSU School of Graduate Studies.

Annual Undergraduate A E Enrollment and Graduation Data

A E Bachelor's Degrees Awarded

Founded in 1912, TSU is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant institution in Nashville, Tennessee. The university has been served by seven presidents, including Dr. Glenda Baskin Glover, who is currently serving as our eighth president.

SACS Accreditation

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools granted accreditation to TSU in 1946. In August 1951, the Tennessee State Board of Education approved university status. The resulting reorganization of the institution’s educational program created the Graduate School, the School of Arts & Sciences, the School of Education, and the School of Engineering. Provisions were also made for the later addition of other schools in agriculture, business, and home economics.

Land-grant University Status

Under the name Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State University, the institution achieved full land-grant university status in August 1958. The Land-Grant University Program included the School of Agriculture & Home Economics, the Graduate School, the Division of Extension and Continuing Education, and the Department of Aerospace Studies. The School of Allied Health Professions and the School of Business were created in 1974, and the School of Nursing was established in 1979.

Name change: Tennessee State University

After Walter Davis retired as president in 1968, another TSU alumnus, Andrew Torrence, was named the University’s third president. During his relatively brief tenure, the state legislature dropped “Agricultural & Industrial” and officially changed the name to Tennessee State University.

Merger with UT of Nashville

When Frederick Humphries became TSU’s president in 1975, Nashville was also home to a second public four-year university. The Knoxville-based University of Tennessee began offering extension credit in Nashville in 1947 and expanded its programs throughout the 1960s. By 1971, it was accredited as a degree-granting institution that occupied new quarters at the corner of Tenth and Charlotte Avenues. But in 1968, TSU faculty member Rita Sanders filed a lawsuit, which became known as Geier v. Tennessee, alleging a dual system of higher education in Tennessee based on race. On July 1, 1979, the case was settled by a court order merging the former University of Tennessee at Nashville with TSU. As president, Humphries was the first to face the challenge of maintaining the balance between TSU’s role as one of America’s preeminent historically black universities and its emerging status as a comprehensive national university.

The Geier v. Tennessee case, however, remained alive for 32 years. Rita Sanders Geier was joined by the U.S. Department of Justice and by TSU professors Ray Richardson and H. Coleman McGinnis as co-plaintiffs in the suit. After numerous court-ordered plans failed to produce progress, all parties achieved a mediated consent decree that was ordered by the court on January 4, 2001.

Capital Improvements and Progress

Following a year as interim president, Otis Floyd became TSU’s fifth chief executive in 1987 and continued moving the university forward, initiating efforts that resulted in the state general assembly providing an unprecedented $112 million for capital improvements in 1988. Under this plan, nearly all campus buildings were renovated and eight new facilities were constructed, including the Floyd-Payne Campus Center, the Ned McWherter Administration Building, the Wilma Rudolph Residence Center, and the Performing Arts Center.

Then, in 1990, the Tennessee Board of Regents appointed Dr. Floyd its chancellor, opening the way for James Hefner to become TSU’s sixth president in 1991. Hefner supervised additional improvements to campus facilities and fostered enrollment growth to an all-time high of 9,100 students. The Otis Floyd Nursery Crops Research Station in McMinnville was dedicated in 1996, and, in 1999, researchers at the TSU Center for Automated Space Science were the first to discover a planet outside our solar system.

Melvin N. Johnson became the university’s seventh president in June of 2005 and was instrumental in continuing to bring national attention to the university by recognizing the Freedom Riders 14, engaging the university in the Tennessee Campus Compact, receiving national awards for community service and engagement, awarded $8 million for Race to the Top Funds by President Glover and Pat HairstonPresident Obama, opening the university’s doors to flood victims and businesses, and obtaining Community Engagement Classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

In the University’s 100-year history, Dr. Glenda Baskin Glover became president in January 2013 and continues making changes to further emphasize the excellence for which TSU is known worldwide.