AIA and ACSA release education supplement to Guides for Equitable Practice

{"version":"0.3.0","atoms":[],"cards":[],"markups":[["a",["href","https:\/\/www.aia.org\/pages\/6524732-equity-in-architectural-education"]]],"sections":[[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"AIA\nand ACSA, in partnership with the University of Washington, created "],[0,[0],1,"Equity in Architectural\nEducation,"],[0,[],0,"\na recent supplement to the AIA Guides for Equitable Practice, to provide\nactions and prompts to inspire discussion within schools and institutions to achieve\ngoals of equity, diversity and inclusion."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"With\nthe overlap between schools and architecture professionals, this guide also\nprovides valuable insight for architects, firms, hiring managers, and\nrecruiters."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Architecture\nschools play a critical role in the development of future practitioners. \u201cSchool\nculture and firm culture are interconnected with faculty who practice,\npractitioners who teach, and students who work in firms while in school,\u201d says\nAIA 2023 President Emily Grandstaff-Rice, FAIA. \u201cThis is why it\u2019s imperative to\ninclude academia in equity conversations to support a profession that is more\nwelcoming, better reflecting the communities\u2019 architects serve, and making it\nmore likely that the built environment contributes to better lives.\u201d"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cWhen\nthinking about resources for our members, it\u2019s natural to team up and make sure\nconversations that are happening in practice echo the conversations that are\nhappening in academia,\u201d says Mike Monti, Executive Director, ACSA. There should\nbe parallel conversations, he says, about healthy culture in architecture."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Office\nand school cultures feed and reinforce each other, says project lead Ren\u00e9e\nCheng, FAIA, NOMA, and long-standing traditions, viewpoints, and biases\nin academia are strong. \u201cThe people that are in the position to do admissions,\nhiring, and promotions \u2013 if we want demographics to change, we have to be\nconcerned with the entire pathway.\u201d"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Firms\nneed to be open to the viewpoints new associates bring to the work and culture,\nespecially when it comes to how race and ethnicity are handled. \u201cLeaders who aren\u2019t\nseeing the value of change and seeing the value of new employees and what young\npeople can offer are going to miss out,\u201d Monti says."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cOur\nprofession is not reaching people that could bring enormous value\u2014enormously\nvaried points of view that we are not hearing,\u201d Cheng says."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Organizational\nculture is the basis for achieving goals of equity, diversity, and inclusion\nacross the continuum from education to practice. Monti expects faculty and\nadministrators of ACSA member schools to use the guide in meetings and retreats\nto address the state of culture in their schools and talk about ways in which\nstudents are experiencing problems integrating themselves into the school and connecting\nwith a culture that is new to them. Since every culture within a school is\ndifferent, this report provides content that is research-based, and grounded in\nan exploration of issues of inclusion that is happening to students of all\nkinds of backgrounds in all regions of the country. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"New\nstudents that do not know any practicing architects may not understand jargon\nor shorthand references to iconic buildings or know to budget for materials. \u201cThose\nthat have more friction or are more confused or spending energy just trying to\nfigure things out. It can feel incredibly unwelcoming,\u201d Cheng says. The report\nis a springboard, she says. \u201cIt shines a spotlight on particular areas where\nthere is radically different interpretation \u2013 where intention is not matching\nimpact.\u201d"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Just\nas with past Equity Guides, the research team created focus groups, but this\nreport highlights more of the focus group members throughout \u2013 using their own\nwords to explain their experiences."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Kendall\nNicholson, Assoc. AIA, Director of Research and Information at ACSA, says these comments are in a point-counterpoint format that contrasts student experiences\nwith those of practicing architects that he thinks will be of particular interest\nto those in the profession."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Student\nadvisor Bobbie Koch, now an architectural designer with 7 Directions\nArchitects\/Planners, participated in the report because she wanted to spotlight\nthat standard practices in academia do not always resonate with students from\ndifferent backgrounds. \u201cA lot of times those standards are rooted in the\nWestern way of practicing architecture and may not capture different ways of\nthinking and different knowledge systems. I see this report as trying to bring\nthem (faculty) to meet students where they are.\u201d Koch says, noting that she valued\nand learned from the viewpoints of the other students in her focus group."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Nicholson\nalso says the report should serve as a reminder to faculty to think about how\nmuch of an influence they have in the discipline\u2014especially with the projects they\nselect for study. \u201cYou are communicating a value that this is something\nimportant and a project worthy of study,\u201d he says. \u201cIf I had a project brief\nthat was an African American church, I would have had requisite knowledge that\nmaybe that some of my peers didn\u0027t have, so they would have been playing the game\nof trying to do what I was doing each semester to make up the gap of knowledge.\u201d"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Cheng\nsays the report reflects how deeply professionals, faculty, administrators, and\nstudents care about architectural education, even if they have different\nperceptions of improving the experience. \u201cIf we keep falling back on what\nbrings us together \u2013 we want to see students succeed and thrive, and faculty to\nthrive,\u201d Cheng says, \u201cThere is a lot of shared alignment.\u201d"]]]]}