CoA+A Dean Named President of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) has announced that José L.S. Gámez, dean of the College of Arts + Architecture, will serve as the organization’s 2025-26 president. 

Founded in 1912, ACSA is an international association of architecture schools that represents approximately 7,000 faculty educating more than 40,000 architecture students. ACSA members include all of the accredited professional degree programs in the United States and Canada, as well as select international schools and two- and four-year programs.

Prior to his appointment as ACSA President, Gámez supported the association in various capacities. Throughout the past decade, he has served on the juries for the Collaborative Practice, New Faculty Teaching, and Practice & Leadership Architectural Education Awards. He worked with the ACSA Board of Directors as an at-large director during the 2017-20 term and in 2023 was elected second vice president, beginning a four-year term, serving the second year as first vice president/president-elect, the third (current) year as president, and the fourth year as past president.  

“I am excited for the opportunity to re-engage with ACSA’s national leadership and to help reinforce the idea that architecture can be a form of civic and cultural leadership,” Gámez said in an announcement from the ACSA.

The ACSA reported that in his new role as president, Gámez has identified the following agenda items as priorities for the organization: 

• The continued focus on ACSA’s position as the leading voice for architectural education (across the continuum of architectural education, from associate’s degrees to post-professional degrees, across the US, Canada, and beyond); 
• An aim to strengthen partnerships in support of ACSA member programs;
• And a focus on core initiatives such as ACSA’s peer-reviewed conferences, journals, student competitions, and awards.

“These items are of particular importance given the dynamic climate that higher education and the field of architecture currently face,” he said in the announcement. “ACSA will continue to build towards a shared vision of collaborative change, addressing forces that affect architecture programs and reaffirming the relevance of architecture, design, and education to the communities that we serve.”

Appointed dean of the College of Arts + Architecture in July 2024, Gámez joined UNC Charlotte in 2002 as an assistant professor of architecture. He has served in multiple leadership positions, including associate dean for research and graduate programs for the CoA+A and associate director of the David R. Ravin School of Architecture.