On my computer is a small sticker that reads: “Make mistakes faster.” Students usually laugh when they notice it. I keep it there because it captures two beliefs that have shaped my career.
The first is that university should be the safest place people ever fail. If students aren’t experimenting, taking risks and learning from setbacks before they graduate, we’ve missed one of higher education’s greatest opportunities.
The second is that our work isn’t finished until it leaves the classroom and begins improving someone’s life. That’s why, as an architect, I have an unconventional measure of academic success that sometimes surprises people: I don’t consider a project successful if the building never gets built. That’s not because publications, design competitions or peer recognition aren’t valuable – they absolutely are. Research advances knowledge, publications shape our disciplines and scholarly work remains central to the mission of every university.
- Teaching is a verb: what sets good teachers apart
- Intent: the key to effective and efficient interdisciplinary collaboration
- How a five-year plan can help realise your research career goals
But, for me, they aren’t the destination. They’re part of the journey. The real question I ask is: did our work improve someone’s life? That mindset has shaped everything – from the FutureHAUS collaboration to the Housing Innovation Challenge, where students work alongside faculty, industry partners and professionals from multiple disciplines to create housing that is more attainable, resilient and innovative. Our prototypes don’t always work the first time – and that’s the point. Every iteration teaches us something. Every setback helps us build something better. Mistakes are how innovation happens.
Improving lives in crises
Housing is a perfect example of why success in academia deserves a broader definition. The affordability crisis isn’t simply about lowering the purchase price of a home; it’s about helping families reduce energy costs, making homes easier to maintain, improving health outcomes and creating opportunities for people to build long-term financial stability. Solving challenges like these requires architects, engineers, builders, business leaders, policymakers and manufacturers to work together.
Universities are uniquely positioned to coalesce these groups. As faculty members, we have the privilege of asking ambitious questions and exploring solutions that industry often doesn’t have the time or flexibility to pursue on its own. At the same time, industry partners help ensure our ideas remain grounded in the realities of construction, manufacturing and community needs.
Minimising risks through interdisciplinary work
I’ve come to think of those relationships as a way of reducing risk for everyone. Universities can test new ideas before they’re widely adopted. Industry can help identify the problems that matter most. Students graduate having already worked across disciplines on projects with real-world relevance. That kind of collaboration strengthens scholarship.
Too often, however, we celebrate academic success through publications, citations and grant dollars. But publications are flat. Some of our most meaningful work happens outside journal pages. It happens when a prototype becomes a product; when an industry partner adopts a new approach. As architects, we experience buildings by inhabiting them. A photograph or a drawing can never fully communicate what it feels like to occupy a space. In much the same way, the impact of academic work can’t always be captured on a page.
Service as a mission for academia
That perspective also reflects why I believe so strongly in the mission of a land-grant university. Land-grant institutions were never intended to generate knowledge for its own sake. They were created to apply knowledge in ways that improve everyday life.
Our scholarship should ultimately find its way into the world. That’s one reason I continue to keep one foot in academia and one foot in professional practice. These worlds complement one another. Students benefit from seeing how they intersect instead of treating them as separate stages of a career.
Perhaps that’s why I measure success differently than I did when I first entered academia. I’m certainly proud when research is published or when a project receives recognition. Those accomplishments matter because they help ideas spread and create opportunities for further collaboration. But they aren’t the moments I remember most.
I remember watching students see their designs become physical spaces that people could walk through, touch and evaluate. I remember community members experiencing new housing technologies for the first time and realising that affordability, resiliency and good design don’t have to compete with one another. I remember industry partners discovering new ways to collaborate with universities instead of simply recruiting graduates from them. Those are the moments when scholarship leaves the page and begins changing lives.
If we’re serious about recognising faculty excellence, we should celebrate the work that changes industries, strengthens communities, prepares students for meaningful careers and improves everyday lives. Those accomplishments may not always fit neatly on a curriculum vitae, but they are often the clearest evidence that our scholarship has fulfilled its highest purpose.
Bobby Vance is assistant professor in the School of Architecture at Virginia Tech. He is also a registered architect and owner/principal of Vance Design Company. He serves as programme director of the US national Housing Innovation Challenge.
If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter.
comment