Since its founding as a department in 1916, the School has produced some of the world's leading architects, including Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Maya Lin and Eero Saarinen, among others.

One of its most illustrious early graduates, Eero Saarinen, produced a wide variety of student projects ranging from medals and currency to campus and monumental buildings.

The Graphic Design department consistently contributed to architecture posters, publications and exhibits, particularly to Perspecta, Yale's ground-breaking student journal.

Particularly under Dean Charles W. Moore, first-year students were pushed to design small buildings that ameliorated the life of poor or disadvantaged Americans, working as VISTA volunteers in the Appalachia.

A recent book on the subject documents the extraordinary breadth and significance of the work produced by students, many of whom went on to become renowned architects and educators.

[4] Yale's M.E.D., one of the first of its kind, made it possible for architects and planners to pursue a wide range of research connected to the betterment of the entire environment.

Notable recipients of the degree included William J. Mitchell, later dean at MIT, and Steven Izenour, a partner with Venturi, Scott Brown Associates.