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President's Message
I would like to thank all of you who participated in the recent leadership retreat / annual meeting event in Traverse City. I appreciate everything that all our state and chapter leaders do to serve our members and advance the mission of the Institute. We had several excellent leadership development presentations this year, so if you missed out this time, please plan on joining us next year. Especially if you are not yet in a leadership position, this is a great way to get prepared to dive in as a chapter or state leader on a board or committee. And if you are or will be in a leadership position soon, this is a great way to reflect on your plans for the coming year.
We also had time for some fellowship, including a lovely winery tour, which was reinforced as a key component of chapter success in one of our presentations - the need to build in time for developing personal relationships in our events. This might resonate for some of you if you reflect on your early engagement with AIA - were you able to connect personally with a few people who seemed to actually listen to what you were interested in? I would guess your answer is yes, and that's part of why you returned to participate more, so keep that in mind as you design your next event and engage with newcomers.
Another key message we were reminded of is the importance of gratitude, so consider going out of your way to highlight the contributions of a relatively new member in your chapter. That will go along way to communicate to everyone that their contributions are also valued. So as my year as President begins to draw towards a close, I would like to take this opportunity to thank two people I am grateful for who work very hard every day to serve all AIA Michigan members - Cathy Mosley and Evelyn Dougherty. Most of our roughly 1,700 members don't have an occasion to interact with Cathy and Evelyn on a daily basis. For those of us who do, I can tell you that they are deeply committed to the organization and work very hard each and every day to advance the cause and serve our members while the rest of us are busy at our day jobs. So thank you Cathy and Evelyn, you are appreciated!
AIA Michigan President
Will Wittig, AIA
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Executive Director's Message
AIA 2018 Conference on Architecture - New York City
It's not too early to secure your room for the 2018 convention. AIAMI has secured a block of rooms at the Hilton Midtown which is the AIA headquarters hotel. More here about the hotel. If you are interested in reserving a room with the AIAMI block follow this link. You will be asked to enter your information. You are responsible for making your reservation, updating and cancelations. The rate is $389 per night. There are other rooms available on the 2018 convention site here.
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Emerging Professionals Corner
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| Matt Guinta, AIA |
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Happy Fall from the Emerging Professional's Desk.
A quick update and thanks to all of our membership. It is your participation and support which matters the most. We as leaders are here for the collective good, to react and listen to your needs, desires, and challenges in our fine profession. Always know, your board and staff are here for you!
The final national meeting on this EP's 2017 docket was AIA Large States. Michigan is a proud to join our fellow single-state regions. The topics at these meetings are the expected static PowerPoints and speakers on policy; ranging from the mundane and critical, to blue-sky and polly-anna. Ultimately, this large group of AIA peers is normally quite productive, and we solve or position collectively on major issues. In year's past we've been able to examine future programs and critique initiatives.
Our latest meeting this past September, we gathered in a recently hurricane battered Florida. Discussion didn't center as expected. The Topic, singular, ever relevant and in-tune with recent and prophetic of events this Fall- RESILIENCY.
This year, much of the world, including us Americans have experienced Biblical sized natural disasters. Although while in coastal states, resiliency translates to flooding, storm preparedness, or for our friends in California, earthquakes and fires- in Michigan, we too have disasters... and just like our Large State colleagues, it is our infrastructure and development patterns which will impede survival and quick recovery. Seasonally now, we seem to be experiencing flooding from heavy downpours across the state. Algae blooms off our inland "seacoasts" challenge us. Bacterial and viruses (or lead) threaten our potable water. We have public health crisis after crisis. It is our duty to adapt. Regardless of anyone's climate change perspective, we all can agree, the climate has in fact changed.
The climate expert, John Englander presented to us asserts that Architects are the solution. He says that it is too late to expect sustainability practices to reduce our carbon footprint and effect melting of our polar ice caps in the near term. He says we have passed the tipping point of stopping an increase in our sea levels. We as a humanity have to adjust now and to plan and pivot. The AIA Large States meeting charged us all to be present, relevant, and tackle these issues head-on.
This leads me to ask our membership, how might we "build Michigan better"? How do we address our building and zoning codes to create resiliency, reduce our impact on the environment, and to solve the challenges and insecurities in Michigan? Collectively, beyond the noise, we might just figure it out.
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New Members!
Members who joined, rejoined or transferred to AIA Michigan!
September
Genevieve J. Doman, Assoc. AIA
Michele H. Flournoy, Assoc. AIA
Darryn Horvath, Assoc. AIA
Stephanie A. Hrit, Assoc. AIA
Luke Kamp, Assoc. AIA
Yao Ma, Assoc. AIA
Kevin A. Parker, Assoc. AIA
Alexis Polsinelli, Assoc. AIA
Stephen Andrew Salazar, AIA
Kevin L. Swanson, AIA
Nathan Umstead, AIA
Zachary T. VanOverbeke, Assoc. AIA
Blaine Westerlund, Assoc. AIA
Welcome to AIA Michigan and we look forward to meeting you at future events!!
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AIAU is a place for architects to learn and earn continuing education credits.
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Upcoming Events!
Holiday Open House - Save the Date!
December 14, 2017
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Contact the Staff
Cathy Mosley, Hon. Aff. AIAMI
Executive Director of AIA Michigan:
Events and Programming, Finances, Communications, Membership, Government Affairs, Sponsorship
Evelyn Dougherty, Hon. Aff. AIAMI
Operations Director: Event Planning and Registration, Documents,
Continuing Education, Membership, Job Board
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