The architecture program at Kent State University is dedicated to developing responsible, professional architects committed to the improvement of the quality of life, the enhancement of the physical environment and protection of the public welfare through the design of the built environment. The program's professional values include reason, independent thought, productivity, honesty, integrity, justice, self-esteem, team-work, and mutual support.

Within a balanced curriculum of technology, visualization, history, theory, and design studio coursework, the program offers a platform for scholarship, constructive discourse, and debate. Project-based learning activities are used throughout the curriculum. Problem definition, clarification, and solution are present in the full spectrum of the program's activities and assignments. Required design studios exist in every semester of the program. The curriculum fosters experimentation, collaboration, discovery, critical and design thinking, and innovation. The program inspires academic excellence and prepares students to be responsible and accomplished architectural professionals.

In the United States, most state registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit U.S. professional degree programs in architecture, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted a six-year, three-year, or two-year term of accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established educational standards.

Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may consist of a pre-professional undergraduate degree and a professional graduate degree that, when earned sequentially, constitute an accredited professional education. However, the pre-professional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

Kent State University, College of Architecture and Environmental Design offers the following NAAB-accredited degree programs:

• Master of Architecture 44 + the pre-professional (Bachelor of Science in Architecture 127)
• Master of Architecture 44/Master of Business Administration Dual Degree
• Master of Architecture 44/Master of Urban Design Dual Degree