Colleagues:

The AIA’s Educator/Practitioner Network (EPN) is delighted to send you the premier issue of EPN News. EPN comprises educators and practitioners who share a commitment to fostering collaboration between these groups to enrich professional education and development. This group includes faculty who teach courses in practice culture (such as professional practice) as well as AIA members who are interested in the EPN mission. We hope to make EPN News a valuable clearinghouse of information tailored to your interests in this area and hope you’ll help us in this endeavor.

EPN News will be published quarterly via e-mail. The format will be designed to allow a quick review of news items and links included in the issue.

From time to time, EPN News will include short surveys designed to provide perspective on issues important to the profession and to the focus of the EPN. This issue of the newsletter includes just such a survey, this time designed to get your feedback on the range of topics you would like to see covered in EPN News and to help us better understand how the EPN can better serve you.

Thanks,
David W. Hinson, AIA
2005 EPN Chair

Historic Resources Committee Fall Conference: “Historic Preservation in Professional Architecture Education: An International Dialogue”
September 12–14, 2005
Bath, England

The AIA’s Historic Resources Committee will hold a symposium in Bath, England, on the state of historic preservation architecture education internationally, featuring sessions held in the historic Bath Assembly Rooms and on the campus of the University of Bath, as well as tours of historic sites in Bath and environs. The symposium will further the dialogue between academicians and preservation practitioners to define the context, issues, approaches, and strategies to integrate preservation values into first professional degree programs while also addressing European education models.

Models of Educator-Practitioner Collaboration in Architectural Education Across the Americas
Since the emergence of the modern profession of architecture in the mid-19th century, practitioners and educators have shared the responsibility for preparing future architects. At its best, this collaborative partnership has served to enrich the learning experience of students, faculty, and practitioners alike. This EPN-sponsored special session at the ACSA International Conference in Mexico City, June 9–12, 2005, featured presenters from across the Americas—including Roger-Bruno Richard, architect and professor of architecture, Université de Montréal; Thelma Lazcano, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; and Jorge Rigau, FAIA, dean, The New School of Architecture, Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico—offering their firsthand experience of, and perspectives on, this partnership. Presentations and notes from the discussion, moderated by David W. Hinson, AIA, architecture program chair, Auburn University, and 2005 EPN chair, are available online.

2005 IDP Coordinators Conference
IDP coordinators gathered in Washington, D.C., February 12–13, for the 2005 IDP Coordinators Conference. Titled Mentoring: The Future of Our Profession, the conference focused on several significant developments related to IDP and internship. Of particular interest to EPN members who advise students and interns will be the Emerging Professional’s Companion and a presentation on recent changes in U.S. labor laws regarding overtime pay for interns.

Case Studies: ACSA/AIA Cranbrook Teachers’ Seminar Proceedings Online
The Teachers' Seminar at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan is an intensive four-day program provided by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and The American Institute of Architects (AIA). The 2004 seminar focused on case studies to inform students, faculty, practicing architects, and the public about professional practice issues. Participants joined one of two workshop tracks: professional practice study or scholarship and research. Please see the seminar program and proceedings for details.

2005 AIA Education Honor Awards
The AIA announced the recipients of the 2005 AIA Education Honor Awards for excellence in course development and architectural teaching during the ACSA awards ceremony at its annual meeting in Chicago in March. The jury selected two courses—“Finding the Social in Big Box Retail,” a collaborative design studio at the University of Arkansas, and “(drawing [machines) drawing],” part of an introductory course at Auburn University—as exceptional models of instructional and educational excellence in classroom, studio, community-based service learning, or laboratory work. In addition, the jury selected two submissions to receive honorable mentions: “Cal Poly Downtown Community Design Studio for Affordable Housing,” a course taught by Alice Alison Mueller at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and “Urban Acupuncture: Neighborhood Design-Build Studio,” a course taught by Steve Badanes and Damon Smith for the University of Washington Department of Architecture.

2005 NCARB Prize
The recipients of the fourth annual NCARB Prize for the Creative Integration of Practice & Education within the Academy were announced at the ACSA annual meeting in March. A total of 33 entries, representing 26 colleges and universities, were received.

The University of Buffalo/SUNY received the $25,000 grand prize for "West Side Streetscape/ Small Built Works Project." The following five finalists each received $7,500:

• Miami University, "The Alumni Traveling Studio"
• University of Arkansas, "The Big Box Studio in the Community Design Center"
• University of Florida, "Bridging: The Links Between Practice and Education in the Academy"
• University of Illinois at Chicago, "Organic Farm Market: A Collaborative Studio"
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, "Chicago Studio"

Honorable mentions went to North Carolina State University ("Making Connections | Building Knowledge: An Assessment of Construction Management at Risk") and the University of Utah ("designbuildBLUFF").

Emerging Professional’s Companion
The Emerging Professional’s Companion (EPC) is an online resource for emerging professionals. Primarily intended as a means for interns to earn IDP credit, this resource also can be used by educators in professional practice courses, by young architects seeking continuing education credit, by AIA components developing programming for emerging professionals (e.g., mentoring programs, study groups), and by firms looking for in-house curricula. The content is regularly updated to include information on current practice models and the various career paths open to interns and licensed architects.

Visit http://www.aia.org/ep_companion for more information about how to get started.

The Educator/Practitioner Network 
The EPN serves as a forum for the exchange of knowledge about the professional preparation of architects through the promotion of initiatives that focus on integrating architecture education and practice as well as enhancing the relationships between educators and practitioners. The EPN focuses on the continuum from education through registration.

The leadership of the EPN is committed to shaping the EPN's activities to meet the needs and interests of its members (existing and prospective!). Please take a few short moments to complete the online survey to help us reach that goal: http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB224GFSBM8LP