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Twelve years ago, Jeff Schnabel left behind the architecture firm he founded in Baltimore to take a tenure-track position at the Portland State University School of Architecture.

Next month, Schnabel will succeed Clive Knights as director of the School of Architecture.

Schnabel said he has no regrets about leaving his own firm behind, and that it鈥檚 even more rewarding to see students鈥� work than it is to create work of his own.

鈥淭his is the place where I want to be,鈥� Schnabel said. 鈥淭hese are the faculty and students I want to be doing it with.鈥�

Schnabel said he wants to see the School of Architecture expand its ties with local firms and government agencies, lessen financial burdens on students and increase diversity in the student body.

鈥淚 think we are doing really well in terms of women represented in the curriculum, but students of color, we鈥檙e nowhere close to where we want to be,鈥� Schnabel said. 鈥淚f I haven鈥檛 made progress on that, then I鈥檇 probably consider my tenure not to have been a success.鈥�

Schnabel is an ideal successor, said Knights.

鈥淗e鈥檚 kind of the perfect person to continue the legacy,鈥� Knights said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 been involved all the way along.鈥�

Knights has led the school鈥檚 architecture program for 12 years, starting as the chairman of the former Department of Architecture in 2007 before continuing as director of the School of Architecture since its inception in 2012. During his tenure, the scope of the architecture school has expanded to include a Master of Architecture program and the Center for Public Interest Design.

鈥淛ob one really is not to screw up all the good work that Clive and my colleagues have done here,鈥� Schnabel said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 mean that in a coy way; truthfully, we鈥檝e got terrific momentum.鈥�

After relinquishing his duties, Knights will take a yearlong sabbatical before returning to the university in a teaching role.

Knights was born and raised in England, where a high school art teacher convinced him to pursue a career in architecture. He enrolled at Portsmouth Polytechnic (now the University of Portsmouth), and earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in 1981. That undergraduate education helped him practice and teach architecture, he said, but also focused too much on new building technologies.

Knights said he began to ask himself, 鈥淲hat does it mean to be creative, to make new work? I hadn鈥檛 figured it out at that point.鈥�

To find the answers to those questions, Knights went back to school, this time at the University of Cambridge, where he worked under famed architectural historian Dalibor Vesely. At Cambridge, Knights said he spent more time studying the history and theory of architecture, which greatly influenced how he taught. Knights鈥� first opportunity to teach full time was at the University of Sheffield, beginning in 1989.

When professors Barbara Sestak and Rudy Barton convinced Knights to come to Portland State University in 1995, there was no architecture program. That changed within a year with the establishment of the Department of Architecture, which began offering a bachelor鈥檚 degree. The prospect of crafting a new program with Sestak and Barton enticed Knights, who said he had never been to Portland and knew nothing about the city other than its iconic Portland Building.

Knights set out to break the mold he encountered as an undergraduate. Too many architecture programs focus on creating unique forms and exploiting digital technologies, he said, instead of asking why a work of architecture is good or how it serves the public.

鈥淚t becomes self-referential and selfish,鈥� Knights said. 鈥淎s an architect you cannot be selfish, because your work is put out there in the public domain.鈥�

Now that the program is established, with more than 500 bachelor鈥檚 degrees and 150 master鈥檚 degrees conferred in the past 12 years, Knights said he plans to work on other creative art forms. His main focus will be to examine the human body鈥檚 influence on architecture.

Schnabel also has a long history with PSU鈥檚 architecture program. Around the time Knights was being recruited, Schnabel was working for PSU as an adjunct professor. He departed in the mid-1990s and moved with his wife, Paula Carder, to Baltimore, where he ran his own design firm.

In 2007, a tenure-track position opened up in the PSU Department of Architecture, and Knights sought out Schnabel to fill the role. With Carder simultaneously interviewing for a job in the university鈥檚 College of Urban & Public Affairs, the couple decided that they would move back across the country if they both received job offers.

Twelve years later, Schnabel and Carder are both still working for PSU.

Knights is looking forward to his sabbatical, he said, but also excited to return to the classroom to teach students.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the best job in the world, and that鈥檚 not an exaggeration or a clich茅,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 think of anything that would give me more pleasure.鈥�