In 1992, with the vision of improving the education of architecture students while improving the lives of rural Alabamians, Professor Samuel Mockbee and D.K. Ruth sought and attained funding from the Alabama Power Foundation and the Jessie Ball duPont Fund to begin the Rural Studio. The studio now attracts almost all of the second year students in the School of Architecture, and with donated permanent facilities and with the Kellogg Foundation's funding base, has been able to achieve its initial goals. Led by Samuel Mockbee and Professor Ruth, the implementation of a unique and inspiring educational and outreach model for the nation - the Rural Studio, the studio has become nationally recognized. The lasting importance of this program should be measured not only by its immediate accomplishments, but also by its influence in the future when its alumni are practitioners of architecture throughout the region and the nation. What the Rural Studio looks for are projects that have a moral sense.
Architects can have a profound influence upon a community and vice-versa.