Visiting the future of architecture – AIA, NOMA presidents make joint visits to HBCU campuses

{"version":"0.3.0","atoms":[],"cards":[["images-card",{"images":[{"url":"http:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/dpcbzfiye\/image\/upload\/v1665404348\/aqdznf9hr7xa131dkrlh.jpg","id":"6552958"}],"caption":"Taylor Hardey, the Morgan State University - NOMA chapter president, addresses the crowd at the AIA-NOMA visit to MSU."}]],"markups":[["i"],["em"],["b"]],"sections":[[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Taylor Hardey, a Morgan State University (MSU) graduate\nstudent, was a college sophomore when she first saw a person who looked like\nher practicing architecture."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cI felt like it was meeting a unicorn. I\u2019d never met or saw\na licensed female architect,\u201d recalls Hardey, who now works in a small\nwomen-only firm in Maryland. \u201cSeeing a licensed architect was one thing, but\nseeing someone Black, and then a Black woman, it was crazy to me. The whole\nconcept was like, wow!\u201d"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Less than 3% of practicing architects in the United States\nare Black. According to a 2020 report in "],[0,[0],1,"Architect"],[0,[],0," magazine, only 0.4% of\nlicensed architects in the United States are Black women. In the 2020 study \u201cWhere\nAre My People? Black in Architecture\u201d for the Association of Collegiate Schools\nof Architecture (ACSA), Kendall A. Nicholson, Ed.D., Assoc. AIA,\nreports that one out of every three Black architecture students attends an historically\nblack college or university (HBCU), and explains, \u201cThis is substantial,\nbecause, on average, each of the remaining degree programs only graduates two\nBlack architecture students each year.\u201d "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"As students returned to campus this fall, Dan\nHart, FAIA, president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and Jason\nPugh, AIA, president of the National Organization of\nMinority Architects (NOMA), made joint visits to four of the seven HBCUs with National\nArchitectural Accrediting Board (NAAB)-accredited architecture programs: MSU, Howard University, University of the\nDistrict of Columbia, and Hampton University. Earlier in 2022, both Hart and Pugh\nvisited Prairie View A\u0026M University; visits to Tuskegee University and\nFlorida A\u0026M University are slated for November. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"On a rainy Baltimore\nmorning at MSU, the first stop on the Visiting\nthe Future of Architecture"],[0,[1],1," "],[0,[],0,"tour, a first-year studio joined\ngraduate students, chapter members from both AIA Students (AIAS) and NOMA Students\n(NOMAS), each association\u2019s respective college chapters, and MSU professors. Hardey, the president of MSU\u0027s NOMAS chapter attended, along with AIAS officers."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0," \u201cWhat is AIA? What is\nNOMA?\u201d a freshman student asked, leading off the first questions of the day. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cWell, do we have an answer for you...\u201d quipped Dan Hart. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"During the casual interactive experiences, Hart and Pugh\nshared comprehensive overviews of the organizations they lead, weaving in\npersonal stories of how they became architects. Hart praised NOMA for its\nleadership in elevating minorities in the profession, and its partnership in\nAIA\u2019s work to address climate\naction for human and ecological health and advance racial, ethnic, and gender\nequity."]]],[1,"p",[]],[10,0],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cAIA\nalone cannot solve these issues. We need to be in partnership with NOMA and\nwith people outside our profession,\u201d shared Hart. \u201cThis is new age in terms of\ncollaboration.\u201d"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Pugh,\na Howard graduate who proudly wore the school\u2019s T-shirt when stopping in\nWashington, D.C., spoke of how HBCU education and connections helped advance\nhis career and encouraged students to establish and build networks by joining their NOMA and\nAIA chapters, attending both organizations\u2019 conferences, and competing in\ndesign competitions. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cYou are the future of the profession,\u201d Jason Pugh told the\naudiences. \u201cWe want to hear from you.\u201d"]]],[1,"blockquote",[[0,[],0,"The joint visits demonstrated both organizations\u2019 priorities\naround supporting HBCUs and diversifying the profession. Time spent with\nstudents, faculty, and administrators allowed both leaders to not only hear\nexperiences of strength and challenge, but to reflect and strategize how the\norganizations might offer additional support"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The joint visits demonstrated both organizations\u2019 priorities\naround supporting HBCUs and diversifying the profession. Time spent with\nstudents, faculty, and administrators allowed both leaders to not only hear\nexperiences of strength and challenge, but to reflect and strategize how the\norganizations might offer additional support. Though each stop offered unique\npoints of view, there was a shared excitement at each school as students pulled\nout their phones during the presentations to snap images from the slideshows\nand to follow Instagram accounts of their student chapters. A similar message\nalso echoed at each stop: a call for AIA and NOMA members to increase\nmentorship and access to the profession. From these visits, students and\nemerging processionals established several priorities: "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[2],1,"1. Sponsorship to attend conferences"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Establishing that financial support is needed to remove barriers and create access for opportunities, Pugh told students that without sponsorship he could not have attended his first professional\nconference. Many students work\nfull-time while earning their degrees\u2014echoed the need for financial support to\nafford conference attendance and cover the wages lost while they invest in\ntheir future career. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[2],1,"2. Time to study for and resources to offset\ncosts of licensing exams"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Emerging professionals want firms to help balance the time and expense\nneeded to achieve licensing."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[2],1,"3. Mentorship for navigating career"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Many\nHBCU students will become the first in their family to graduate college and\nenter architecture professionally. They are eager to hear from architects who\nhave recently been through the process and are willing\nto share their experiences."]]],[1,"blockquote",[[0,[],0,"\u201cFor Black and Brown people who are in these positions, it\u2019s\nvery important because students get to see people who look like them, who came\nfrom similar backgrounds as them,\u201d - Teisha Bradley, MSU professor and licensed\narchitect "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cFor Black and Brown people who are in these positions, it\u2019s\nvery important because students get to see people who look like them, who came\nfrom similar backgrounds as them,\u201d said Teisha Bradley, a MSU professor who is pursing licensure. Bradley recently relocated from Boston to work at her alma-mater. She\nwill continue working remotely at her firm, and she is proud that other Black\npeople, especially women, will see themselves in their professor when they attend\nher class. It is why she felt the joint AIA-NOMA visit was so monumental for\nstudents and why she hopes fellow architects will recognize the role they\nplace in elevating the next generation. \u201cFor our allies, it\u2019s important for\nthem to know that we are supported in every venture.\u201d"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Hardey agreed, as she reflected on the visit. \u201cThe national\npresidents of both organizations came to an HBCU. This is a huge deal!\u201d "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"She valued the time the busy leaders spent listening to her\nand her peers and believes the first-year students in attendance who had not\nheard of AIA and NOMA before meeting Hart and Pugh will come to understand the\nmagnitude of the visit and the value of professional networking. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0," \u201cThe future of\narchitecture depends on how much everyone is willing to help each other,\u201d\nHardey said."]]]]}