2020 AIA Pennsylvania Paula Maynes ARE Grant Recipients Announced
The Pennsylvania chapter of the American Institute of Architects Emerging Professionals Committee (EPiC) is pleased to announce the 2020 class of Paula Maynes ARE Grant recipients. Since 2015, the grant has recognized outstanding architectural graduates pursuing licensure and their contributions to the architecture profession and their communities at large.
The grant celebrates the late Paula Maynes, AIA, whose legacy of mentorship and service to the profession left an indelible impact on the AIA community. Paula graduated from Carnegie Mellon’s architecture program and worked for several architectural firms before starting Maynes Associates Architects. She served two terms on the AIA Pittsburgh Board of Directors and two terms on the AIA PA Board of Directors. Paula was the President of AIA Pittsburgh in 2008, Secretary of the AIA Pennsylvania Board in 2012, and chaired the Government Affairs committee in 2010 and 2011.
This year, the grant recognizes three dedicated, passionate emerging professionals with funding to sit to test for three divisions of the ARE – a $705 testing fee. Get to know soon-to-be architects and 2020’s ARE Grant Recipients (picture above left to right): Zoe Cennami, Michele Mokuau, and Chitika Vasudeva. Their profiles offer a peek into their professional paths to architect and commitment to service as well as advice for balancing it all.
Becoming an Architect in Pennsylvania
The traditional path to becoming an architect in Pennsylvania is three-fold requiring education (Bachelor or Master of Architecture from a National Architectural Accrediting Board architecture program), 3,740 hours of experience (AXP – Architectural Experience Program), and a six-part examination (ARE – Architect Registration Examination). The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) found that in 2019, nearly 4,000 individuals completing their final core licensure requirement took an average of 12.7 years to do so. The total time to finish earning an architecture degree, gaining experience, and taking the examination fell by about four months compared to 2018.
In Pennsylvania, the average candidate took just under seven and a half years to complete the AXP and the ARE. NCARB reports that as of 2019, 741 active ARE testers and 4,114 licensed architects reside in Pennsylvania. “The number of U.S. architects continued to rise in 2019, suggesting that the profession heading into 2020 was healthy and growing. At the start of 2020, there were over 116,000 licensed practitioners across the 55 jurisdictions, a 1 percent increase from 2018.”