Rate My Professor Jim Stevens

James Stevens, FAIA, Ph.D., is Professor of Architecture at the Richard A. McMahan School of Architecture, Clemson University College of Architecture, Art and Construction. He served as Director of the School of Architecture from June 2020 to 2025. Prior to joining Clemson in 2020, Stevens was Chair of the Department of Architecture at Lawrence Technological University from 2015 to 2020 and founding Director of makeLab, the university's digital fabrication laboratory, from 2010 to 2020. His academic career also includes tenure-track positions as Associate Professor and Assistant Professor at Lawrence Technological University, Teaching Assistant at North Carolina State University College of Design, and Instructor of Architecture at Coastal Carolina Community College. Professionally, he held roles as Principal and Vice President at Peterson, Eure, and Associates, Associate at Vernacular Studio and Quinn Evans Architects, and Preservation Specialist at the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources State Historic Preservation Office.

Stevens holds a Ph.D. in Architecture and Urban Planning from the University of Ferrara, Italy, with residency and research at Polis University, Tirana, Albania (2020; dissertation: "Post-Digital Craft, Defining Digital Risk"), a Master of Architecture from North Carolina State University (2007), a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Historic Preservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design (1994), and an Associate of Applied Science in Architectural Technology from Coastal Carolina Community College (1992). His research centers on digital vernacular, digital fabrication, post-digital craft, and materialization of digital media. He co-authored the book Digital Vernacular: Architectural Principles, Tools and Processes (Routledge, 2015) with R.K. Nelson. Selected publications include "Post Human Craft: A Humble Attempt to Reorient Makers to the Inevitable" (Cubic Journal, 2020), "Post-Digital Craft" (MD Journal, 2019), "Digital Risk, Materialization of Digital Media" (Making Futures Vol. 5, 2018), and "The Digital Corbeled Wall: A Pedagogical Approach to Digital Infrastructure and Traditional Craft" (European Academy of Design Conference Proceedings, 2017). Stevens earned Fellow status in the American Institute of Architects (FAIA, 2025), Fulbright Specialist Award for Peru (2025), Fulbright Scholar Award for Albania (2016), AIA Henry Adams Medal for Excellence in the Study of Architecture (2008), and Mary E. and Richard E. Marburger University Faculty Member of the Year Award (2013). He serves on the South Carolina Board of Architecture Examiners, NCARB Education Committee, and as AXP/IDP Mentor for NCARB, and has led over 24 international workshops.