Jim Lutz, AIA currently serves as the thesis coordinator for the School of Architecture and Planning at Catholic University.

From 2008-2017 he was on the faculty at the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota. In addition to teaching graduate design studios, he taught courses in sustainability, building technology, and public interest design. He served as the co-director, and subsequently director, of the Master of Science – Sustainable Design (MS-SD) program from 2010-2017.

While at UMN, he was an advisor for the university’s entry in the 2009 Solar Decathlon competition organized by the US Department of Energy. During the 2011 and 2012 spring semesters, he led a graduate studio in Haiti, working with Architecture for Humanity on postearthquake reconstruction efforts. He was selected as the national Architecture Educator of the Year in 2015 by the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS).

From 2000-2008, he was on the faculty of the Department of Architecture at the University of Memphis, teaching a variety of courses and studios. He was the faculty advisor for TERRA, an award-winning LEED-Platinum sustainable design demonstration house completed in 2009. Prior to entering academia, he practiced architecture in California for twenty-three years, fifteen of which were with a firm he co-founded, designing residential, commercial, and institutional projects.