| 2011 AIANYS Committees Report
The AIANYS committees worked hard in 2011 to assist in planning programs and supporting various AIANYS activities. Below is a brief synopsis of each committees work in 2011 written by the committee chair. Thank you to all of our committee chairs and members for volunteering their time and helping to make 2011 such a successful year!
Associates Standing Committee
Chair: Nicolette Feldser, Assoc. AIA, AIANYS Associate Director
Members: Venesa Alicea, AIA, Regional Associate Director, Ken Baviello, Assoc. AIA, Mark Behm, Assoc. AIA, Quentin Castle, Assoc. AIA, Padraic Hegan, Student Director, Sara Katz, Assoc. AIA, Shanntina Moore, Assoc. AIA, Jeffrey Pawlowski, Assoc. AIA, Thom Penn, FAIA / NYS IDP Coordinator, Jeff Smith, AIA, John Whelan, Assoc. AIA, Anthony Huskisson, Georgiana Hayes, Assoc. AIA, Illya Azaroff, NYS YAF Liaison
The AIANYS Associates Committee's mission is to advance the goals and objectives of Associate Members of AIANYS, and address the specific needs of interns: work place, IDP, licensure requirements. Here are some of the 2011 highlights:
2011 AIA New York State Associate Member Survey
The Associates Committee conducted its 2nd annual Associate Member Survey during the summer of 2011. The survey was intended to help all AIA components in NYS understand the needs and demographics of the Associate Members. We were able to streamline the data entry by offering the survey electronically to all of the 1,252 AIANYS Associate Members. We had 178 responses which is approximately 14% of the Associate membership. The breakdown by component is available to Component leadership upon request. For the survey report, go to: http://aianys.org/images/2011assocmbrsrvy.pdf.
Associate Events at the 2011 Tri State Convention
The Associates Committee hosted two programs at the Tri-State Convention titled, "Tri-State Speed Mentoring" and "Maximizing Your Career: Getting the Most out of Licensure and Certification." The Tri-State Speed Mentoring program evolved at the Convention into a session long discussion on issues surrounding Emerging Professional participation and support within the profession at large. Venesa Alicea and Nicolette Feldser moderated the discussion. The program "Maximizing Your Career" was co-hosted by NCARB and the Associates Standing Committee and drew upon the experiences of the licensure process from the perspectives of four people going through the process in the Tri-State area. Nicolette was a participant in the panel discussion.
ConvergenceNYC 2011
ConvergenceNYC is an annual networking event that brings together emerging architects, architecture students, and established designers from some of the most exciting design firms in New York City. This program currently in its 5th year, organized by Convergence Group, a team of students and young professionals, has reached out to students, and encourages attendance from students/young professionals across New York State. AIANYS continues to be one of the sponsors for this program. This sponsorship specifically helped fund 30 students to attend this event through travel, accommodations and food. This program proves to be an introduction for many students to the profession and the AIA, through firm tours, the panel discussion and associated networking events.
Social Networking
Facebook and Twitter accounts continue to be one of our main outreach tools where we post events across NYS and important information relevant to our membership. There is also a new AIANYS LinkedIn page so please join us there for even more updates! HootSuite and Architizer were also explored this year in terms of managing and expanding social media communications.
Welcome Packet for New Associate Members
An Associate Member Welcome Letter was drafted and submitted to all current Associate Members and will be reviewed and reissued annually to welcome New Associate Members to the AIA. This document contains information and helpful resources regarding the AIA and other news/resources regarding Associate Members.
Roles & Responsibilities Guidelines
The Guidelines for the Roles & Responsibilities of the AIANYS Associate and Regional Associate Directors were edited and approved by the Board of Directors. These pieces will be utilized in the future in a statewide guidebook for new incoming Associate Directors & Emerging Professionals Leaders allowing candidates access to information required to fulfill these positions prior to the start of the term served.
NAC/NYS Best Practices for Emerging Professionals
The National Associates Committee has worked diligently to create a template for Components to use to compile Best Practice Programs for Emerging Professionals. The NYS Associates Standing Committee will be distributing this template to members of the Committee and Chapter Programs Directors to collect information and feedback on the variety of programs available for Associate Members throughout the State. These programs will then be collected into a format that is easily accessible for Chapters to use as models for how to create and implement Associate Programs in their own localities.
Government Advocacy Committee
Chair: F. Eric Goshow, AIA V.P., Government Advocacy
Members: Jay Bond, Tim Boyland, AIA, Rich Leckerling, Stu Markowitz, AIA, Jeff Mural, AIA, Margery Perlmutter, AIA, Joseph Piraino, AIA, Francis Pitts, FAIA, Allen Rossignol, AIA, Anthony Schirripa, FAIA, Robert Stanziale, AIA
The Government Advocacy Committee was hard at work in 2011 and the result was a successful legislative year for AIANYS. One of our top legislative priorities for many years, Non-Design Professional Ownership, was finally signed into law this year. This law allows design professional firms to offer key personnel such as business managers, human resources managers or computer information and other specialists an equity interest in the firm, up to 25%. Although not in our legislative agenda, two bills were signed into law which we sent memorandums of support: Land Banks provides for the creation and administration of land banks, for the conversion of vacant, abandoned or tax-delinquent properties into productive use. Safe Street Design Principles enables safe access to public roads for all users by utilizing complete street design principles.
We were successful in killing the following bills which we opposed: Construction Threshold; Professional Certification, prohibition; Damages for Delay; Criminal Prosecution for Building and Fire Code Violations; Interior Design Bills: Interior Design, 15 year grandparenting, Interior Design, state contracts and Interior Design, Partnership formation. For a complete 2011 legislative agenda, go to www.aianys.org under Government Advocacy.
AIANYS named two Legislators of the Year: Senator Kenneth LaValle and Assemblyman Ronald Canestrari. They are receiving this honor for their sponsorship of the Non-Design Professional Ownership bill.
For the third year in a row, AIANYS held a free Leadership Advocacy Training Webinar, "Effective Communications With Legislators: Before, During and After Lobby Day." This training was designed to provide members with more effective tools to use on Lobby Day.
AIANYS held a successful Architects in Albany Lobby Day in the Spring. Over 50 members, representing 11 chapters, attended Lobby Day.
Because of AIANYS members generous donations to the NYS Architects Political Action Committee (NYSAPAC), AIANYS leadership and members were able to attend many events for legislators this year. They attended over 57 events throughout the course of 2011, including 22 in the district.
Planning, Budget and Finance Committee
Chair: Kelly Hayes McAlonie, AIA, President Elect
Members: David Businelli, AIA, Francis Pitts, FAIA, Jeff Smith, AIA, Robert Stanziale, AIA, Ric Stott, AIA, Claire Weisz, AIA
The Planning Budget & Finance Committee met throughout the year and discussed the following:
- The committee worked to keep the 2011 budget in line and on target.
- The Committee recommended a modest $5 dues increase for all levels of membership. This increase is to assist AIANYS overall operating budget. The proposal was approved at the September 2011 board of directors meeting.
- The committee made the following recommendations for 2012:
- The committee is encouraging additional funding to be appropriated for additional Leadership Training, increased Membership Outreach and increased Support to Components.
- The committee recommended continuing production of the Membership Directory in digital form. Switching from print to digital saved $35,000 in production and postage costs.
Public Advocacy Committee
Chair: Raymond Beeler, AIA, VP, Public Advocacy
Members: Kelly Hayes McAlonie, AIA, Joseph Piraino, AIA, Jeff Smith, AIA, Robert Stanziale, AIA, Ric Stott, AIA
PR Postcard
The Public Advocacy Committee continued the public relations campaign that began in 2010 to raise awareness to New York State newspaper reporters and editors that architects work is often not credited. The committee and AIANYS staff worked with a graphic designer to revise the design of the postcard to be sent to reporters and media outlets throughout the state. The card featured the photo of the 2010 AIANYS Best in New York State Design Award recipient. The front design and tagline was once again reprinted with permission of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Postcards were sent out in the Spring to over 300 newspaper reporters and editors across the state. AIANYS members could also download the postcard from the website and email it personally to reporters.
For the first time, chapters could also have postcards custom designed using a photo from their area. Four chapters were chosen by lottery to participate: AIA Brooklyn, AIA Buffalo/Western NY, AIA Central NY and AIA Staten Island.
AIANYS submitted the state postcard for an AIA Grassroots Excellence Award: Public Affairs and Communications-Outstanding Single Program. Two respected journalists wrote letters of support for the postcard campaign. The recipient of the award will be announced in early 2012.
Empire State Challenge
The Committee was also tasked with organizing the 2nd Annual Empire State Challenge. All Chapters were encouraged to enter a significant project that needs assistance in order to move forward. The project would involve the built environment and be compatible with AIA policy statements. The three finalists for the AIANYS Empire State Challenge, AIA Central NY, AIA Peconic and AIA Westchester + Hudson Valley, presented their projects to the jury on September 23 at Bally's in Atlantic City during the Tri-State convention. The three jurors were: Peter Arsenault, FAIA, William Bobenhausen, FAIA, and Dennis Andrejko, FAIA. The winner of the 2011 Challenge is AIA Westchester + Hudson Valley for their project "Sustainable Design Database."They have received $5,000 to further their proposal.
AIANYS Newsletter
The committee worked to expand the content of the AIANYS digital newsletter, Architecture NYS. The column Design Matters was created to highlight a project located in a particular chapter's area designed by a chapter member. So far AIA Rochester, AIA Peconic and AIA Eastern NY have been featured.
Student Awards Committee
Chair: Kelly Hayes McAlonie, AIA
Members: Dennis Andrejko, FAIA, Peter Arsenault, FAIA, Nicolette Feldser, Assoc. AIA, Padraic Hegan, AIAS, Allen Rossignol, AIA
The Student Awards Committee chose the theme of universal design for the 2011 Awards. Each school was then sent out all the information on the 2011 Student Awards. The committee chose the design of a poster that was distributed to all of the schools advertising the Student Awards program to students. Champions were also assigned to each school to follow up with the dean/faculty. 5 students from 3 different schools received a 2011 AIANYS Student Award. AIANYS also applied for and received an AIA Component Matching grant to help subsidize the program.
Public Sector Practice Committee
Members: Ron Battaglia, FAIA, David Businelli, AIA, Russell Davidson, AIA, Burton Roslyn, FAIA, Francis Pitts, FAIA, Rich Pospula, AIA, Lina Telese, Esq., Zetlin & De Chiara
The Public Sector Practice Committee was very active this year meeting with the State University Construction Fund (SUCF), the Office of General Services (OGS) and Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY). All of the meetings were constructive and helpful in advancing issues faced by architects in working with the respective agencies. These meetings will continue to be scheduled to keep the lines of communication open between AIANYS members and state agencies. | 
