Career StagesEducator/Practicing Network

Prepared by
The Collateral Internship Task Force, representing the five collateral architectural organizations:

The American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architecture Students
Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
National Architectural Accrediting Board
National Council of Architectural Registration Boards

A Letter from the Chair

Colleague:
The Collateral Internship Task Force was created to further develop and refine the dialogue on architectural internship that had its genesis at the April 1999 Internship Summit in Shaker Village, Kentucky.

Each of the five collateral architectural organizations appointed a representative to the Task Force, including one person from each collateral, individuals to represent Canadian architects, intern architects, recent registrants, and staff. I am grateful to the Collaterals for their vision in appointing such outstanding individuals to serve on this Task Force. They made my job as Chair infinitely easier and more enjoyable.

The CITF met four times, determining goals at the first meeting and objectives at the second. At the third meeting, we established possible implementation strategies, and finally, refined the report. Much time was spent selecting the proper wording to appropriately convey our collective intent, so we ask that you read each of the nine issues very carefully. Note especially that the content and outcome of Issue IX is contingent upon the successful implementation of issues I through VIII. This report does not offer a "quick fix"; instead, it is a long-term guide for substantive changes in the internship process. We have made suggestions for possible implementation strategies, but we anticipate that the significant efforts to realize the nine recommendations will be initiated by each of the collateral organizations.

I especially wish to thank each of the Task Force members who, despite widely divergent backgrounds and opinions, were able to look "beyond the horizon" to design a new and exciting future for the profession.

This report is the starting point for continuous review and monitoring, to ensure the very best process for preparing young persons for the world of architecture. If the content of this report is truly understood, embraced, and implemented, the profession's pathway to licensure will be enriched.

William W. Herrin, Jr., FAIA
Chair, CITF


Introduction

In May 1996, the architecture profession heralded the publication of Building Community: A New Future for Architecture Education and Practice, by Ernest Boyer and Lee D. Mitgang of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

A sweeping independent study of architectural academy and practice, the "Boyer Report" led to the creation of several committees and task forces that each reviewed the report's recommendations. One such task force, the Collateral Boyer Task Force (CBTF), was comprised of representatives from each of the five collateral architectural organizations: The American Institute of Architects, the American Institute of Architecture Students, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, the National Architectural Accrediting Board, and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. Focusing on the transition between the academy and practice, the CBTF determined that a summit on architectural internship should be convened. That event took place in Kentucky in April 1999, at the conclusion of which several objectives were defined. The collateral organizations appointed representatives to a new task force, the Collateral Internship Task Force, to review the objectives and develop implementation strategies. This report is the culmination of the task force's work, and is presented to the five collaterals for adoption and action.

The Collateral Internship Task Force (CITF) believes the profession is best served by a continuum of learning, where the lines defining education, experience, and examination converge. In this model, knowledge and skills are acquired throughout the continuum, thus enhancing the development and stature of emerging architects.

The CITF reviewed the objectives defined at the Internship Summit and created a model framework for improving the professional development transition between education and practice.

The profession should aspire to the highest levels of intellectual, creative, technical, ethical, social, cultural, and leadership skills and values. To this end, there must be recognition, by both educators and practitioners, of their shared roles in providing appropriate experiences for students and young professionals. Similarly, the five architectural collateral organizations must continue to work together, coordinating efforts and resources, to implement the recommendations of this report, to effect positive change.

The task force determined there are several ideals that are pervasive to each organization to ensure that the enhancement of the profession is achieved. The recommendations are presented as goals, objectives, and (possible) implementation strategies. The strategies are not exclusive; they are meant to provide guidance points for accomplishing each objective.

Organizations that are best positioned to implement specific strategies have been identified.


I. Accessibility into the profession should be broadened.

The profession should aggressively pursue methods of increasing motivation to enter the architecture profession and expand accessibility to opportunities in architectural education.

1. Educational materials should be developed and distributed to introduce elements of architecture and design to elementary and middle school students. (AIA/AAF, AIAS)
2. An outreach guide should be developed that will promote and explain the architecture profession to secondary school and community college students and guidance counselors. (ACSA, AIA, NCARB)
3. Public information programs on architecture as a
profession should be promoted. (AIA, NCARB)
4. Existing scholarship and financial resource programs should be supported and new programs should be created. (AIA/AAF, ACSA)
5. A clearinghouse to identify available scholarships and financial resource programs should be created.
(AIA/AAF, ACSA, AIAS)

II. Practice should be integrated into education.

Educators and practitioners should collaborate to ensure that students are exposed to professional culture and gain practical experience during their formal education to meaningfully contribute to the professional environment.

1. Aspects of professional culture should be integrated into education as early as possible in the curriculum. (ACSA, AIA, NAAB)
o These include leadership, ethics, values, communication skills, and team building.
2. The educational process should encourage multiple types of professional experience within as well as beyond the classroom. (ACSA, AIA, NAAB)
o These might include virtual practice settings, continuing and cooperative education programs, design studios, in-office internships, hands-on experiences, and community design centers.
3. Schools should assure that students acquire an understanding of career options and the registration process at an early stage in the formal education/internship process. (ACSA, AIA, AIAS, NAAB, NCARB)
4. Schools should create significant opportunities for students to interact with professionals. (ACSA, AIA)
5. Educators and practitioners should be engaged collaboratively to understand current and emerging practice issues. (ACSA, AIA)
6. The relationship between the NAAB Student Performance Criteria and the IDP Core Competencies should be explored. (NAAB, NCARB)

III. Education should be integrated into practice.

Practitioners and educators should collaborate to ensure the existence of opportunities and support for professional growth.

1. Practitioners, educators, and emerging professionals should recognize and embrace their respective roles and responsibilities in the professional development process. (ACSA, AIAS, AIA)
2. Practitioners and educators should invest significant time and financial resources in the development of emerging professionals. (ACSA, AIA)
3. The relationship between the NAAB Student Performance Criteria and the IDP Core Competencies should be explored. (NAAB, NCARB)

IV. Every candidate for registration should have a professional degree from a NAAB/CACB-accredited program or its equivalent. 

A professional education is required to provide emerging architects with intellectual competencies such as critical thinking skills, an awareness of social and cultural diversity and the architectural implications thereof, and an ability to use historical and contextual precedent in the design process.

1. Regulatory boards should be encouraged to require a professional degree from an accredited program or its equivalent. (NAAB, NCARB)
2. Methods should be enhanced to judge equivalency to accommodate international candidates and exceptional cases. (NAAB, NCARB)

V. Alternative paths for obtaining professional experience leading to registration should be accepted.

The profession should define and accept appropriate pathways for obtaining professional experience.

1. A competency-based professional experience program for emerging professionals should be developed. (AIA, NCARB)
2. It should be recognized that some competency-based professional experience can be obtained prior to
beginning the formal professional education process.
(AIA, AIAS, NCARB)
3. The variety of professional experience settings should be expanded. (AIA, NCARB)
4. Collaborative educational and professional innovations, such as practicum studios and practice academies, should be encouraged. (ACSA, AIA, AIAS, NAAB, NCARB)
5. Participation in continuing education programs should be recognized for professional experience credit. (AIA, NCARB)

VI. Examination should be permitted upon graduation.

Recipients of professional degrees from accredited programs (or their equivalents) should have the responsibility and discretion to decide when to take any or all parts of the Architect Registration Examination.

1. Regulatory boards should be encouraged to permit recipients of professional degrees from accredited
programs (or their equivalents) to take the examination upon graduation. (NCARB)
2. The emerging professional must understand that experience, in addition to education and examination, is required to obtain registration. (AIAS, ACSA, NAAB, NCARB)

VII. Continuous learning and mentorship are fundamental to the profession.

The demands of the architectural profession require a lifelong pursuit of knowledge, and acceptance of the obligation to be leaders and teachers.

1. Continuing education should be required to maintain registration. (AIA, ACSA, NCARB)
2. Mentoring guidelines for all peer groups should be developed. (AIAS, AIA, ACSA, NCARB)
o For example, between students and graduates, between graduates and emerging professionals, and between emerging professionals and practitioners
3. Mentoring networks should be established.
(AIAS, AIA, NCARB)
4. Incentives for individual and firm participation in defined mentorship programs should be provided. (AIA, NAAB)

VIII. National and international reciprocity should be strengthened.

With the emergence of global communication, technology, and practice, the profession should promote, through collaborative efforts, the standards for education, experience, and examination.

1. The collateral organizations should promote uniform standards for education, experience, and examination to improve the national system of reciprocal registration. (ACSA, AIA, AIAS, NAAB, NCARB)
2. The profession should recognize the principles established in the international agreement developed within the UIA's Beijing Accord. (ACSA, AIA, AIAS, NAAB, NCARB)
3. The profession should support the continuing efforts of the collateral organizations to establish bi-lateral and multi-lateral agreements. (ACSA, AIA, AIAS, NAAB, NCARB)

IX. Architecture graduates should be recognized for their knowledge and abilities.

Appropriate titling, responsibility, and compensation should reflect an individual's stage of achievement.

1. Compensation should correspond to an individual's level of responsibility, experience, and education.
2. With the achievement of goals one through eight, titling should reflect an individual's stage of professional development.
- "Architecture student" is used to describe those individuals who are dedicating a significant portion of their lives to the formal study of architecture.
- "Architect" is used to describe professional degree graduates of an accredited program as they pursue one of the diverse career paths for which their architectural education has prepared them, based on the full and successful implementation of the concepts espoused in this report.
This recommendation presumes that through the collaborative process outlined herein, there is an elevation of the quality of the education, experience, and examination process. The recommendation further presumes a fundamental paradigm shift from the current exclusionary and qualifying environment, to one of inclusion of emerging professionals. By including these graduates, they will have the potential to become more engaged in the profession as a whole, and contribute to the profession and society because of their elevation and status that recognizes their skills and knowledge.
Through the celebration and inclusion of these architects within the larger context of society, these individuals have the potential to expand the influence of the highest values and aspirations of the architectural profession and the quality of the built environment in service to society.
- "Registered architect" is used to describe those individuals legally responsible for the protection of the health, safety, and welfare of the public.

Acknowledgements

Each of the five architectural collateral organizations has been committed to the work of the Collateral Internship Task Force. Official members of the CITF, representing the collaterals, interns, and Canada, are:

William Herrin, FAIA, Chair
James H. Anstis, FAIA (NAAB)
R. Wayne Drummond, FAIA (ACSA)
Amy J. Isenburg, Associate AIA (AIAS)
Grace Kim, AIA (Newly licensed)
Edward Mojica, AIA (Associates)
Robert A. Odermatt, FAIA (AIA)
Susan Ruptash (Canada)
Peter Steffian, FAIA (NCARB)
Jennifer Stewart (Canada)

Staff members serving as ex officio members of the CITF are:

Helene Combs Dreiling, FAIA (AIA)
Pamela L. Kortan (AIAS)
Elliot Pavlos, Associate AIA (NAAB)
Robert Rosenfeld, AIA (NCARB)
Stephanie Vierra, Associate AIA (ACSA)