Two members of UWM’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning are among just four recognized nationally by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.
Samantha Schuermann and Adam Thibodeaux, both assistant professors, won the association’s 2025 New Faculty Teaching Award. The award acknowledges demonstrated excellence and innovation in teaching during the formative years of an architectural teaching career.
Their achievements follow in the footsteps of fellow faculty members Lindsey Krug and Nikole Bouchard, who have also received Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture teaching awards in recent years, reinforcing the school’s reputation for excellence in both teaching and research.
Samantha Schuermann: Elevating student collaboration in research
Schuermann emphasizes the importance of collaboration among faculty and students in shaping meaningful research and learning experiences.
“Particularly in conjunction with Adam also receiving the award, to me, this indicates that UWM SARUP is doing some exciting things both in research and teaching,” Schuermann said. “I think this award is further evidence that constant collaboration with students is essential and necessary to produce compelling research and projects.”
Schuermann’s interdisciplinary work explores the architectural implications of domestic labor and material culture. She has involved students in research projects, leading to national conference presentations, co-authored publications and exhibition opportunities.
“Because of this award, we will give presentations at the ACSA Annual Conference in May, so that also means that our SARUP students will be cited for their work. They now have some publications that they are co-authors and co-researchers on, and that’s great,” she added.
Schuermann also highlighted the strong support for research at UWM, noting that collaborations with students inspire her to continue seeking funding for student researchers through initiatives like the Support for Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) program.
“I’ve had SURF students every semester I’ve been at UWM, which has been incredible for outcomes like publishing papers and doing exhibitions. I also have two students now who have had their own abstract accepted for a national conference on undergraduate research related to things that we have been working on together.”
Adam Thibodeaux: Integrating identity and architecture in the studio
Thibodeaux focuses his teaching and research on reclaiming and preserving the architectural histories of marginalized communities. For him, receiving the new faculty award is a testament to the collaborative energy within the school.
“It’s an exciting moment because it feels like there’s a lot of new fresh ideas coming into the school and a lot of energy around what feels like similar approaches to teaching,” Thibodeaux said. “It’s motivating to not just engage our own individual research practices but also situate them in context with each other, but most importantly, supported by student researchers. It creates a network that feels charged in a good way.”
Thibodeaux’s work often challenges traditional architectural discourse by incorporating themes of embodied difference and identity into the studio setting. He acknowledges the challenges of advocating for these perspectives in design education but sees them as opportunities for impactful change.
“One challenge is advocating for different perspectives in design studio settings, particularly dealing with issues of embodied difference and marginalized identity. These topics often manifest outside the studio curriculum, but it’s been a goal of mine to integrate them into the core design curriculum,” Thibodeaux said.
“There is a lot of desire among architecture students to see how their own identities impact their work as architects, and I think enabling them to do that has been one of the most meaningful aspects of my teaching.”
He also emphasized the importance of providing students with research opportunities that extend beyond the classroom, allowing them to take ownership of their work.
“A big part of what I can do as new faculty is to leverage my own research practice as a platform for students to develop their work outside of the classroom. We have amazing undergraduate research funding, and it’s critical to bring students along — not just to give them access to resources but to empower them to take ownership of their own research,” Thibodeaux said.
“Like Sam, I’ve been incredibly appreciative of SURF funding to support paid student researchers in expanding upon threads of faculty research through focused, independent research projects where they can leverage our presence as collaborators rather than as instructors.”
