Joe Aranha is a professor in the Huckabee College of Architecture, Texas Tech University, where he teaches architectural design and courses on architecture in non-Western societies. He has taught in Malaysia, Spain, Mexico, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, India, and China. His research focuses on vernacular and traditional built environments, with particular attention to meaning and symbolism, as well as continuity and change in traditional architecture.

As a Fulbright US Scholar, Dr Aranha is teaching an architectural design studio and leading workshops on architectural heritage documentation at Warmadewa University in Denpasar, Bali. His work focuses on the challenges of maintaining continuity while accommodating change amid rapid development on the island.

He has received two Fulbright US Scholar awards to Zimbabwe and Ethiopia and has also been hosted as a Fulbright Specialist at universities in India, Mexico, and Indonesia (Bali). He has co-directed international architectural design workshops in Vietnam and China and has led study abroad programs for Texas Tech University in Spain, Mexico, and India. He is a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, originally edited by Paul Oliver, and his photographs of traditional architecture have been exhibited in Spain, Portugal, Thailand, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia.

His recognitions include the University Chancellor’s Council Award, the highest honor at his home institution, as well as awards for integrating teaching and research, developing study abroad programs, and excellence in teaching. He was also a co-principal investigator on a US $1.6 million internationally funded multidisciplinary project to develop higher education programs in engineering and architecture in Ethiopia.