 During this period Sauer also taught architecture and urban design part-time at Philadelphia's Drexel Institute of Technology (1960–65) and the University of Pennsylvania (1965–79).It took many of Sauer's fellow practitioners by surprise when he suddenly closed his office in Philadelphia in 1979, giving up a successful private practice and moving on to a full-time academic career as Head of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University.Sauer felt strongly about the role of education for shaping future practitioners.