Wednesday, April 6, 2011

What does it take to become registered in Texas?

You may or may not know it, but you can become registered in Texas without a professional degree in architecture… at least for the next five months that is. The Texas board of Architectural Examiners (TBAE) changed the rules to require a professional degree back in 1999, but for those of us who began our career before then, we were grandfathered in and can still become registered. I am currently testing under this rule so according to TBAE, I am safe. But for all of those out there who have not begun your record, you will soon lose that right. If you have not contacted and obtained a registration number by August 31, 2011, you will have to go back to school to become a licensed Architect in the state of Texas. Did I say “go back to school”? That’s right! According to this month’s edition of Licensing News, the Board adopted new rules in their January 2011 meeting that “restrict the ‘grandfather’ provisions for architects to those who apply on or before August 31, 2011”. This means you are only “grandfathered” in if you have a TBAE record by this date. It goes on to say that on the following day (September 1st) these provisions will be repealed and “no one will be eligible for registration under those previous provisions”.

You may be thinking to yourself, I started school after 1999 so this doesn’t apply to me. You are right, but it does apply to all those folks who went to architecture school “back in the day” and have just never gotten around to getting registered. We all know at least one person that falls under this category and unless they subscribe to Licensing News, they won’t find out until it’s too late. According to this, if they don’t take action now, their “one day” will never come. This also affects those that may be seeking their initial registration in another state (yes, I know some of you think you are being sneaky), after this date you won’t be granted reciprocity in the state of Texas either. So, spread the word to all those old fogies (I can say that because I started in 1999) and let them know that they need to get in gear. Or as one person told me, “don’t tell them, it’ll mean less competition for us”. Whatever you do is up to you, but don’t say I didn’t tell you so!


To read the entire story in Licensing News, visit the below link:
http://www.tbae.state.tx.us/documents/April2011LicensingNews_000.pdf

To open an account with TBAE, visit the link below:
https://secure.tbae.state.tx.us/newaccount.aspx





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

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