Monthly Newsletter

MAY | 2023 | VOL. 5

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE:

This month kicked off with an engaging Leadership Call where we spent time discussing the idea of an alternative path to licensure in the state of Michigan. There was great participation and conversation on the call from architects around the state. It was important to many that any alternative path to licensure should be careful not to weaken the licensure process. One alternative option to our current education and work experience requirements would allow a four-year degree in architecture along with additional work experience beyond that currently required. There was a consensus that no matter what modifications were explored within the education and work requirements, passing the ARE Exam must remain in place. This engaging and important conversation will continue as we seek an optimal solution.

I’d also like to take a moment to point out to membership that there are several opportunities to get involved with AIA throughout the year that you may not be aware of. This month there were a couple those events that took place, one by the Michigan Historic Preservation Network (MHPN) and the other by the Michigan Architectural Foundation (MAF). Even though AIA Michigan didn’t host them, they were full of AIA Michigan members and filled with opportunities to get learning credits. The MHPN annual conference was held on Mackinac Island earlier this month. AIA Michigan works with MHPN to ensure that architects attending the event have opportunities to obtain qualified learning units. Read more.

AIA EDUCATION DIRECTOR UPDATE

Michigan is fortunate to be home to five accredited schools of architecture (listed alphabetically): Andrews University, Kendall College of Art and Design, Lawrence Technological University, University of Detroit Mercy, and University of Michigan) and one post accredited degree school (Cranbrook Academy). Each one brings unique value to the educational process and our discipline. We support and collaborate with each other. Therefore, it was natural for me to reach out to the six deans and directors as I prepared this update in an effort to ensure that its content reflected more than our school’s agenda. I received a variety of responses ranging from: 1. maintaining and growing enrollment despite the falling demographic trends in Michigan, to… 2. Engaging and attracting a

variety of student demographics and decolonizing our educational process, to… 3. navigating a critical dialogue on the transitions represented by A.I. content generators like Midjourney, Dall-e or ChatGPT, to… 4. the list continues, but for the sake of brevity, I will stop it here. Read more.