A early decision, for better or worse, to take the road less traveled has led to a multidimensional professional career that now spans more than 35 years. Some might say "jack of all trades, master of none", however the preferred is 'just a higher IQ short of a Renaissance Man'.  I have experience in environmental consulting and research; oil and gas land management, retail management, flower buyer, (then I went back to school) historical museum and foundation administrator, Designer, Preservation Professional, carpenter, stone mason, landscape designer, Scoutmaster,  husband and father (the last being my greatest accomplishment and for which I have recently found myself a chief cook and bottle washer for the third time!) I list all those things because I did them, I did them all well and I am proud and better for it.  I still use a little bit of all those professions to this day and every day for they are all connected and if you look deep, they are all related.  They, at the very least, gives me the varied perspective and unique understanding that I bring to problem solving and building design.

I have a B.B.A. in Urban & Regional Studies, with a minor in Environmental Studies from Baylor University (1979). I did post-graduate work in Environmental Planning at Baylor as well, changing directions just short of finishing a thesis for a MS.  After several years in the first...and second of my careers, I went back to a high school dream and completed a M Arch from the University of Houston gaining a Certificate on Historic Preservation and Adaptive Reuse (1991).  As a part of my Master's experience, I did an internship and obtained a Certificate from the Winedale Preservation Institute at the University of Texas at Austin (1991).  While at the University of Houston I was awarded the Myron Anderson Prize and was inducted in the Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society.  I was elected into the 50 from 50 Hall of Fame for the University of Houston, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture in 1995.

I studied design under Bob Timme and I studied Historic Preservation under Barry M. Moore, FAIA Wayne Bell, FAIA and very importantly, under Faith Bybee.  I feel very fortunate that I have been at the places in time that I have found myself.  I was able to combine my NCARB internship so that I could work under Barry Moore and his aunt, Faith Bybee.  The unique situation allowed my complete my architectural education and at the same time be involved with the Texas Pioneer Arts Foundation in Round Top, Texas, for which I served as its Managing Director from 1992 - 1998.  While there I learned everything there was to know about early Texas vernacular architecture.

I have co-authored two publications:

James P. Arnold & Barry M. Moore FAIA, On the Slopes of the Volcano - Documentation of UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Mexican Monasteries of the Sixteenth  Century. Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, The University of Houston Press, 2012.

James P. Arnold & Barry M. Moore FAIA, Workshop for Historic Architecture (the first eighteen  years). Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, The University of Houston Press, 2009.