Colin Dean
AIA Eugene Director
Architect, Rowell Brokaw Architects
Greetings and happy new year as we enter the 2020s! My name is Colin Dean and I’m excited to be taking the helm as your AIA Eugene Section Director. First of all, I’d like to thank our previous Director, Frank Visconti for his countless contributions to our organization and for leading us through the transition from Chapter to Section. Without his tireless dedication, we would not be on the solid footing that we currently find ourselves. Likewise, I’d like to thank Rex Prater for stepping up and volunteering to serve as Director-elect for the next two years.
To give you a little bit about my background and experience with the AIA. I’m originally from Washington state and first came to Eugene as a student in the University of Oregon’s bachelor of architecture program. As circumstances would have it, I had the misfortune of graduating in 2010 during the depths of the Great Recession. Employment opportunities in the profession were nonexistent. After returning to Washington, one of the first moves I made with my new degree in hand was to join AIA Seattle as an associate member. Doing so was a pivotal move. As a member, the AIA not only gave me access to numerous networking opportunities, a place to post my resume, and access to ARE study materials but most importantly, membership provided me the ability to stay close to the profession while the economy slowly thawed. Participating in chapter events led to short term gigs and eventually to full-time employment at Callison (now CallisonRTKL). Fast forward a couple of years and I found myself in Portland, a registered architect at Ankrom Moisan, and a professional member of AIA Portland. Following a stint there, my wife’s career brought us to southern Oregon. I served as President-elect of AIASO in 2018-19 while practicing at Kistler, Small, + White in Ashland. Last May saw my return to Eugene as my wife’s company relocated to the Willamette Valley. I came full circle to my days as a student. Now an architect at Rowell Brokaw, I’m excited to settle in as Director of AIA Eugene and look forward to all of the events planned for the upcoming year.
In 2020, the over-arching goal for AIA Eugene is to increase our focus on elevating the member experience, ultimately increasing membership value. This means that we’ll strive to create engaging, informative, and thought-provoking content to better serve our members and their interests. With this in mind, 2020 is poised to be very busy year for us. At our kickoff section planning meeting, we brainstormed a list of potential events so extensive it would keep our members engaged well into 2021. After paring this down, we shortlisted the following. Starting the year off, last night we co-hosted the annual Reverse Crit Pin-up with AIAS UO. This was an amazing event that offered students the opportunity to critique professional work from local firms. Following this, we’ll host tours of the Benton County Historical Society Museum, Hayward Field, and the Knight Campus. We aim to offer continuing education credit for each of these tours. Later in the year we’ll celebrate summer and winter with the ASLA; first at our co-hosted summer picnic followed by our annual holiday party. We’ll continue our tradition of presenting the People’s Choice Awards and publishing the Design Annual. Sprinkled into the mix of these events, we’ll continue to offer monthly lunch & learns and our committees will continue to hold periodic get-togethers. We have a very active Emerging Professionals committee (EPC), Small Firms Exchange (SFx), and Committee on Local Affairs (CoLA). All committee events are open to all members. I highly encourage everyone to at least sit in on a committee event and see if it’s a place for you to lend your voice. All events will be thoroughly advertised in Thursdays @ Three.
Reverse Crit Pin-up with AIAS at University of Oregon
In addition to our many localized events, we look forward to harnessing the power of a single state chapter to provide members with state-wide engagement opportunities. While continuing to provide events unique to Eugene, we’ll be working with AIAO to rollout statewide initiatives that are set to enhance the member experience. An example of this includes offering simulcast events incorporating panel discussions and local break-out sessions. These events will center around each of the quarterly themes mentioned by our president, Amy Vohs in the 01.9.2019 edition of Thursdays @ Three. A prime example of the potential found in our new state chapter’s organization can be found in AIAO’s recently held and immensely successful 2019 OSSC Updates webinar. With over 200 attendees, this event positions itself as the standard bearer for future state-wide engagement opportunities. But to be successful, all of these events will depend on you, your input, and most importantly, your participation.
AIA Oregon through the local sections is a member driven organization. Your engagement is highly valued as it keeps our chapter and section energized and relevant to all members. If you’ve never sat on a committee, participated in a planning session, or it has been a while since you last have, I strongly encourage you to join in and help guide the conversation. We depend on our professional, associate, and allied members to raise their voice, create dialog, and help shape our future so we can continue to provide meaningful services to our members. I’m excited to lead this section. Knowing its storied history, I look forward to continuing our traditions while keeping an eye looking towards the future as our profession continuously evolves.