In this issue:
· AIANY Wins at AIANYS
· New NAAB for 2011
· Get Involved with AIA National

AIANY Wins at AIANYS
Six AIANY members won state honors in 2009. Abby Suckle, FAIA, 2009 AIANY Secretary, will receive the Fellow’s Award. Venesa Alicea, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, 2009 AIANY Associate Director, won one of two AIANYS Intern Associate Awards. Pei Cobb Freed + Partners was granted the 2009 Firm Award. Anthony Vidler, Dean of Cooper Union (who will be speaking at the Deans’ Roundtable at the Center for Architecture, 09.17.09), will receive the AIANYS Education Award, Leevi Kiil, FAIA, will be given the President’s Award, and Russell A. Davidson, AIA, will receive the Matthew W. Del Guadio Service Award. All the awards will be presented during the AIANYS Mainstreets Convention, in Rochester, NY, 09.24-26.09. The Honor Awards Ceremony will take place on Friday, 09.25.09, at the Dryden Theater. The last day to register for the AIANYS Mainstreets convention is 09.16.09.

New NAAB for 2011
It’s been two years in the making, and it will be two more years until the accreditations go into effect, but the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) has a new set of Conditions of Accreditation. The AIA, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), and the American Institute of Architectural Students (AIAS) weighed in on the new rules, which will go into effect 04.01.10, and will be applied to programs from 2011 to 2016. There are some major changes to what qualifies as an accredited architecture program, including that students have not just the understanding of, but the ability to build sustainably. Applied research is a new student performance criterion, and there is an emphasis on bringing collaboration and leadership into curriculum. Read more here.

Get Involved with AIA National
There are a number of opportunities to have your voice heard at the national level without ever having to leave your desk. On 09.16.09, from 2-3 PM, AIA National is hosting the last of three interactive webinars on its 2010-2015 strategic plan. George H. Miller, FAIA, 2010 president-elect, and Clark Manus, FAIA, 2010 first vice president-elect, will host the event. AIA is seeking feedback from its constituents on its draft plan for the next five years, and hopes to make the adoption process as transparent and inclusive as possible. Sign up here.

AIA National’s Advocacy team announced that the Board Advocacy Committee’s comment period is now open on this year’s outstanding position statements. Last year the board plowed through 43 statements, and set the language of 38. The remaining five open position statements needed further evaluation and review: Research and Development; Architectural Practice and Title Regulations; Energy and the Built Environment; Sustainable Architectural Practice; and Sustainable Rating Systems. A sixth position statement, on Interoperability, is also open for comment. The AIA encourages its members to weigh in on these issues, as they will become “binding on all AIA official activity, including component activities and on AIA members acting in an official capacity on behalf of the AIA.” Read these sunset reviews and comment here.