Associates Grassroots

As one of the Co-Chairs for the AIA Dallas Associates Committee, I was lucky to be able to attend the 2011 Intern Grassroots conference in Austin this past weekend. It was really beneficial to meet other associate directors from across Texas and see what they are doing to better engage their members. While everyone agrees that it’s easier to get people to show up if there’s alcohol and pizza involved, they also all show a genuine desire to help the interns in their area. From design competitions involving napkin sketches, construction documents and portfolios to mentorship programs that engage future architects as early as elementary school, Texas associate members are getting it done.

There were guest speakers including Yvonne Castillo, Gayle Pickering and Gary Dunn. Yvonne is the General Counsel for TSA and spoke to us about the importance of staying informed with the bills currently in the state legislature. There are currently 330 bills being tracked by the TSA that include the revisions to the Practice Act of 1990 which states that you can’t do architecture without an architecture degree and proposed changes to the Qualification Based Selection (QBS) that is currently in place for public projects. If you would like to become more involved or learn more about the current bills, you can do so on the TSA’s website, http://www.texasarchitect.org/.

Gayle Pickering, the Senior Director of Conventions for TSA, spoke to us about the TSA Convention which will be held here in Dallas on October 27-29. She wanted to make sure we were all aware that Friday during the convention is “Intern Day” where all associate members can attend the Expo for free. Since it is up to us this year to ensure everyone attends, we will be publicizing this date and contacting firms in the area to get them to allow their interns to attend without having to use personal or vacation time. The Expo will be at the Dallas Convention Center so it will be easy to get there by jumping aboard the DART rail. There will also be an Emerging Professionals event geared towards Associates and Interns that will be held on Friday evening. This event is still in the works so we will be sure to provide more information closer to the date.

Gary Dunn is the Texas State IDP Coordinator and spoke to us about the Intern Development Program (IDP), NCARB and the Texas requirements for registration. If you are currently working on your IDP or are interested in learning more about any of these topics, Gary will be in Dallas on May 25th for one on one meetings and to present recent changes to the IDP and the ARE and what to expect in the future. This event will be free for AIA Associate members. Registration will be available on the associates page at http://www.aiadallas.org/ within the month so be sure to check back often.


We also took some time to discuss the issues that are currently facing associates and interns and what we can do to help. There has been a lot of discussion on the National Associates Committee forum about why it is important to be an AIA member and how associates benefit from this membership. While this topic is a whole other blog entry for some other time, I do want to let our members know that we are working to provide more benefits and value with your membership. We are looking to add more “professional” development seminars in addition to our educational seminars that are geared towards the ARE. We are joining forces with the Young Architects Forum to provide portfolio and resume how-to workshops as well as portfolio speed review events where you can get feedback on your current portfolio. We will also have a competition and exhibit at the TSA convention this year showcasing the diverse talents of our associate members. We want to provide as many resources as we can to help our members get informed, get educated, get involved and (most importantly) get a job!

Kimberly Cundiff, Assoc. AIA
Design Development Manager, Brinker International
2011 Assoc. Co-Chair, AIA Dallas