Message from the AIAO President

Amy Vohs, AIA
AIA Oregon President

President’s Internship initiative

Hello everyone! 

I hope you are all getting ready for the holiday season. 

I wanted to introduce you to a program we have been working on since the beginning of this past summer.  AIA Oregon with the CoEDI Committee have been focused on pushing forward an initiative identified in our Social Justice Action Plan to increase the awareness and access to the profession of architecture for high school students of color and students who may not have access through their remote location, or lack of programming in their curriculum to the AEC industry. AIA Oregon gets several requests for high school students to provide job shadows or other opportunities so we wanted to focus on making a formal process where firms can easily express interest in providing opportunities, students can browse different firms, and school educators, career counselors and CTE program directors have a way to connect to architecture and engineering firms to expand their outreach to student interest.

We have been meeting with a great task force representing a wide range of interests with representatives from Room for More, NOMA PDX, AIA Oregon, ACE Mentoring PDX, AFO, Emerging Leaders,  and Oregon Green Schools PDX.  In addition, AIA Oregon has been meeting with Oregon Department of Education to understand how we can leverage this program state-wide and align with existing CTE curriculum.  

The task force organized the discussion around three areas: Representation, Diversity and Inclusion. 

• Representation focuses on knowing the numbers. Where are we now so we can track progress.

• Diversity focuses on offering students an opportunity to work with architects or engineers that look like them. It is important to be able to see themselves working in the profession they are interested in. If firms are not able to provide this yet, we will set up an outside mentor who can fill this roll. 

• Inclusion focuses on offering training to firms, mentoring and evaluation from both firms and students to continue to improve the program.

What you will see coming out shortly is a request for firm interest in getting involved to be able to create a database for interested students and outside organizations, as well as a request for mentors to be able to pair up students with similar interests. The task force will assist in getting students placed as well as getting firms access to other programs and school districts looking to expand their offerings for career experiences. We will also be a resource for providing training as requested on inclusive programs for high school students. Once interest is better identified by students and firms, we will look for ways to create a multi-tiered program based on student and firm availability.  I hope you will be interested in getting your firm involved or in becoming a mentor. Our goal is to have a program set up for this coming summer.  

Feel free to send us any questions or comments or to find out more about the task force, please contact us at info@aiaoregon.org.  

Thank you,

Amy E. Vohs, AIA

Please fill out the survey that best describes your interest:

Mentor interest

Firm interest

Message from an AIAO Fellow

Don Stastny, FAIA FAICP FCIP

AIAO Professional Achievement Awards

Some observations on THE AGE OF COVID:  The pandemic has basically restructured society as we know it—changing the workplace, isolating people that require interaction, compromising mental health and limiting collaboration.  We all have become somewhat proficient at Zoom meetings (and have been a part of developing a whole new profession of “designing backdrops” that are messages in themselves and allow us to advertise who we are).  In the past two years, we have condensed at least ten years of life into a brief moment in time—resulting in a number of conditions that share a common highway: political division, vandalism, terrorism, racism, lack of empathy for our fellow human beings, dishonesty, and environmental ignorance have evolved and supported each other in a way that we have never experienced.  How do we reclaim our lives, our principles, our communities, and our democracy going forward?  I suggest that is through a series of small actions—each of which builds upon other actions to create a supportive and progressive society.  I have often used the analogy of tossing a pebble into a pond and the resulting ripples that result—and if enough pebbles are thrown in, the ripples begin to interact and those interactions contain the mana for positive change and further evolution of a place and a culture. 

My apologies for the RANT, but I believe the current condition of society (and particularly in Portland and Oregon) finds itself at a crossroads—how can we move forward in a positive way, how do we (as a profession) send messages to the public about values we share, and how do we provide leadership going forward.  In a way, our Professional Achievement Awards are our “pebbles” that will create ripples—and in THE AGE OF COVID, these ripples may have a very strong impact on the way the profession is seen by the public, and, through the recipients of those awards, challenge  our community to be better, to not accept negativity and remain optimistic about how society is moving forward.

AIA Oregon has chosen to include Professional Achievement Awards as a part of the annual Design Awards in order to recognize individuals  who are making an impact—on their profession, on their community and on their peers.  The AIA Oregon President’s Award is given to an individual AIA member for significant contribution to the architecture profession through distinguished leadership and service over an extended period of time.  The AIA Oregon Young Architect Award honors individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and made contributions to the architecture profession early in their careers (and this award is a potential stepping stone to the AIA National Young Architect Award), and the AIA Oregon Emerging Professional Award is given to individual Associate AIA members to recognize outstanding leaders and creative thinkers early in their careers.

Another award, not necessarily given annually, is the Award of the AIA Oregon College of Fellows.  This award is given by the Fellows only if there is a recipient identified that demonstrates--through action or program—a continuing contribution to the community through Design Excellence.  While this award has been given to individuals, it is often awarded to an organization or entity that embraces the founding principles of AIA Oregon and is impactful in the continuing development of the community.

In THE AGE OF COVID this series of awards have greater meaning.  First of all, IDENTIFYING LEADERSHIP—whether it be as an individual or an organization—and how that leadership is exemplar of the principles and ethos of the American Institute of Architects.  Secondly, ADOPTING ACCOUNTABILITY—recognizing the recipient adopts the charge to continue the work she/he has begun.  And thirdly, IMPACTFUL CONTRIBUTIONS—to use the Award to influence current and future decisions that will benefit the profession and society. As the awards are bestowed on individuals and organizations, we, as a profession offer our sincere congratulations and challenge the honorees to make their “ripples” meaningful and complimentary.

Donald J. Stastny FAIA FAICP FCIP has been a practicing architect since 1976.  His international practice includes Architecture and Placemaking, Urban/Civic Design and Community Strategic Planning, and Design Process Innovation.  He holds the 2009 National AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture, the 2006 AIA Northwest and Pacific Region Medal of Honor, and was the recipient of the 2017 Outstanding Citizen Award from the Architecture Foundation of Oregon.

Message from the AIAO Executive VP/CEO

Heather Wilson
AIA Oregon Executive Vice President/CEO

First of all, let me just say this: The Matrix is here.

It’s just not as dystopian as we thought it might be. (If you haven’t seen the movie yet – and how have you not by now – spoiler alert. Dystopian future, humans become batteries, no free will, Simulacra and Simulation. Check it out.)

Here we are, tucked away in our “pods” connecting mainly in virtual space. I even use virtual environments (backgrounds) to help others believe I am in a more fabulous space than I am (my closet). And, on more than one occasion, I’ve caught myself looking at that cave shadow of myself and thought “hmmm. I would like to be on that beach” as someone’s background suggests.

But I’m never fully fooled. We still “Leave Meeting.” And here I am, back in my closet. Wanting to see an end to this, but not sure what it looks like next.

If you haven’t signed up for our 5th annual FutureVision Conference, which starts on Monday, TODAY IS THE DAY. Several of the offerings are free, you can earn up to 7 HSW, and ALTHOUGH WE ARE NOT YET BACK IN PERSON, we are dreaming of better days together. As we talk about the ways we come back together safely in terms of pandemic, there is a parallel conversation to uncover about how we regather ourselves safely post social upheaval, because that happened as well. This year’s program seeks to reveal answers around what could be if we considered good design as a civil right. From the concept of semi-utopian “Equi-districts” to the very concrete case study of Detroit, Michigan, we want to discuss the possibilities of birthing a new paradigm. Please join – it won’t be the same without your voice and I assure you we are better together than we are apart.

Tune in on Monday as we meet Room for More and talk about equitably designed communities; host a mid-week Hack-a-Thon and wrap things up with Steven Lewis, FAIA, and our Oregon Architecture Awards.

2021 has been a transformative year. It’s a day that starts a 5-day celebration of light – Diwali in the Hindu faith, which I respect and often practice. Diwali symbolizes the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.” I invite you to celebrate Diwali with me today by signing up for FutureVision and contributing to the advancement of our AIA Oregon community. We look forward to seeing you there!