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Driven by a desire to bring those practicing architecture closer to their counterparts in academia, the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture has established a roundtable of Chicago firm founders, owners, and principals to advise the college on what the profession is thinking and to enhance opportunities for closer collaboration. 

“When I talk to architects across the country about their views on higher ed, the common theme was ‘I’m not connected to it,’ ” says Rowe Family College of Architecture Dean Endowed Chair Reed Kroloff.  

“There’s a fair amount of feeling that the schools are in their sphere and the profession is in theirs; tangent, rather than overlapping. I see this as a missed opportunity,” Kroloff adds. It’s that space in the middle where exciting work can be done on envisioning and supporting the future of the profession—together. That space is where I hope the Roundtable will operate.”  

In April 2026, twelve leaders from Chicago-based architecture and landscape architecture firms gathered for the inaugural meeting of the IIT Education Roundtable. The participants were owners and partners drawn in equal measure from small, medium, and large firms, of which only two were College of Architecture alumni. Kroloff said he cold-called some, and others he had met at various College of Architecture events. The professionals were joined by a group of faculty and board members from the college. 

“We want outside perspectives,” Kroloff says. It can be hard to get the head of a firm to come to a meeting like this; they’re busy. But several of them said they’d never heard anything like this before and liked the idea.” 

“I thought it was a good idea for him to open up the dialog between academia and people in practice,” says attendee Julie Michiels  (B. ARCH ’03), a partner at MAS Studio. “It’s good that it’s a two-way conversation; I think sometimes practices are out of touch with what’s going on in academia. Schools shouldn’t just be looking at what practices are doing, practices should be looking at what schools are doing.” 

“I know at [the College of Architecture] in particular there is a lot of overlap between teaching professors who are also in practice, and not all schools are like that,” Michiels adds. 

Kroloff noted that he would like architecture schools to have a similar symbiosis with working professionals that he sees taking place between doctors and medical schools, or attorneys and law schools, whose relationships Kroloff sees as more closely integrated than with the design professions.  

The roundtable will meet twice a year to discuss specific topics, with some faculty members attending when applicable. The next meeting slated for October 2026.