History of NCBDS

The National Conference on the Beginning Design Student (NCBDS) is a national peer-reviewed scholarly gathering dedicated to the study and practice of beginning design education. For nearly 40 years, the NCBDS has provided a forum for design educators to present papers and projects and to hold discussions related to introductory design issues.

The conference welcomes new faculty to attend and participate. This event provides opportunities for mentorship, collaboration, networking, and presentation of research and pedagogical methods within an inclusive environment.

Abstracts for papers and projects are blind-reviewed for acceptance, full papers and projects are presented at the conference, and proceedings of the papers and posters are published with ISBN.

Read more about the history of  NCBDS.

New Archive Announced

The National Conference on the Beginning Design Student (NCBDS) announced the creation of the Archive of NCBDS in partnership with the Southwest Collection (SWC) at Texas Tech University. The records and proceedings of NCBDS will now be searchable both on-line and in the SWC’s Holden Reading Room. Since TTU’s earliest years, the Southwest Collection has archived the history of West Texas, the US Southwest, and beyond. Its collections are available for public research purposes and include materials of regional, national, and international significance, including the archives of Tau Sigma Delta the Honor Society for Architecture and Allied Arts.

The NCBDS collection will include not only decades of the organization’s annual programs and proceedings, but also photographs, business records, audio/visual material, syllabi and other items documenting the NCBDS’s rich history.
“We are proud to serve as the archive of record for the NCBDS, and to preserve and make accessible the nationally significant student and professional architectural scholarship of the organization,” said Monte Monroe, the Southwest Collection Archivist and current Texas State Historian. Tim McGinty, founder of NCBDS noted, “This is an important event in scholarship about teaching architecture especially because it will be in an on-line searchable format for the first time.”

40th Conference Co-Chairs

Sara Queen is an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture teaching a range of undergraduate and graduate studios as well as advanced graduate research seminars. She serves as the Director of Undergraduate Programs in Architecture (advising BEDA and BArch programs) and Director of First Year Experience for the College of Design (coordinating the interdisciplinary design foundations studios and courses for studio based majors). Sara was recently honored as the 2023 Educator of the Year by the AIA NC Chapter for her extraordinary accomplishments in design discourse, architectural education, and mentoring of the next generation of architects. Additionally Sara’s teaching excellence has been recognized through the national ACSA / AIAS New Faculty Teaching Award in spring of 2014, the 2016 NC State University Outstanding Teacher Award, the 2017 NC AIA Emerging Professional Award, the 2018 NC State University Scholars Awards, the Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher Award, and the TH!NK Faculty Fellowship in Critical and Creative Thinking.

Tania is Associate Professor of Design Studies in the Department of Media Arts, Design and Technology. She is the author Solving Critical Design Problems: Theory and Practice which was published in 2018.

Tania is a Faculty Fellow with the Center for Geospatial Analytics and a previous faculty fellow in the Office of Faculty Development where she helped to create an online faculty certificate program focused on emphasizing higher order thinking skills through critical and creative pedagogy. She has taught Design Thinking where she focuses on creative design research strategies for beginning design students. Additional topics of pedagogical and scholarly interest include creative research methods, design and rhetoric, design anthropology, data equity and thick mapping.

Patricia Morgado received her bachelor and professional degrees from the Universidad Ricardo Palma (Peru), and her Ph.D. degree from the Universidad de Sevilla (Spain). Patricia is a registered architect in Peru and Chile, and her professional degree is equivalent in Spain. Before moving to the United States in 2002, Patricia worked as an architect in Latin America’s internationally renowned firms Juvenal Baracco (Peru), Emilio Soyer (Peru/Spain), and Murtinho y Asociados (Chile), as well as for Spanish organizations EXPO ‘92 (Universal Exposition Seville 1992), and COAM (Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid). Additionally, she worked in her own practice (1998-2002). Beyond her professional interests, Patricia has studied sculpture and drawing in Peru, Spain and Chile, and has participated in several collaborative exhibitions since 1981 and in a one-person exhibition in 1983.