The 2019-2020 AIAS Board of Directors held their Winter Board Meeting at the 2019 FORUM Conference in Toronto, ON on December 28, 2019. The current Board members were joined by election candidates for the incoming Board of Directors, and all enjoyed a productive meeting full of tough discussions and considerations. A huge thank you goes to Taylor Smyth Architects for lending us their boardroom space, and giving us a fantastic tour of their office!
The Council of Presidents also met at the 2019 FORUM Conference on both December 30, 2019 and January 1, 2020. We received great feedback from Chapter leaders about the work that our Committees and Board have put together during the Fall semester, and the Board really appreciated the input and questions that the Council brought to the table. If you weren’t able to join us at the FORUM BoD and CoP meetings, here is what you missed:
BoD Discussions:
- The Public Policies that were updated last year by the Governance Committee were a helpful addition to the Governing Documents of the AIAS, however, they lacked action items or next steps. The AIAS HQ Staff has been wondering how aggressively we want to pursue advocacy that relates to the Public Policies. A concrete process was not decided, but the Board was generally in favor of speaking up actively about issues as they arise. It was also agreed that the burden of content for such advocacy did not rest on AIAS HQ, but anything posted was definitely at the discretion of the AIAS HQ Staff.
- The future of membership is a frequent discussion among the Board, but rather than spending this time debating whether local benefits or national benefits were a better attractor, it was agreed that both are intrinsic to a healthy membership base. What makes the AIAS worth joining is its purpose and how committed we are to pursuing that mission.
- The Board was presented with and discussed the progress of an AIAS Code of Ethics, as coordinated by the Ethics Committee. More to come at upcoming Board of Directors Meetings.
BoD Actions:
- On behalf of the Governance Committee, President Curry moved to amend Bylaw 2.862 in such a way that requires the Vice President to notify Chapter members once their Chapter is no longer in Good Standing due to default of a National Dues Payment. The motion passed after minimal discussion.
- On behalf of the Governance Committee, President Curry moved to amend Bylaw 2.506 in such a way that makes the schedule of Quadrant Conferences more clear: specifically, the motion exchanged “annually” with “per academic year”. The motion passed after minimal discussion.
- Vice President Fogel presented his proposal for the Past-Vice President position, and after a significant amount of discussion around voting equity and unpaid workload, the Board passed a Bylaw amendment as well as a Rules of the Board amendment that outlined the volunteer capacity and financial implications of the Past-Vice President position. Upon leaving his position as Vice President, Adam G. Fogel and every Vice President after him will become the AIAS Honor Awards Jury Chair, and serve on the Finance Committee.
CoP Actions:
- The Bylaw amendments regarding Bylaw 2.862 were ratified with minimal clarification.
- The Bylaw amendments regarding Bylaw 5.06 were ratified with minimal discussion.
- The Bylaw amendments regarding Bylaw 3.13 were ratified after an amendment failed and clarifying questions and discussions were had. President Curry had made the original motion to the Board at the Fall Board Meeting when she moved to amend the portion of the Bylaws that involves replacing members of the Board of Directors once they have been removed for whatever reason. Prior to this motion, there was no protocol or procedure for that replacement. After discussion and minor amendments to the original motion, the motion passed and moved on to the CoP for ratification.
- Resolution 19F01 was presented by the delegate from the Illinois Institute of Technology and charged the 2020-2021 Health and Wellness Committee as well as the 2020-2021 Equity and Diversity Committee with exploring universal design and accessibility strategies and brainstorming the implementation of them into the curriculum in schools of architecture. The Resolution passed unanimously.
CoP Discussions:
- Councilors asked for a reminder email about their membership lapsing before the new round of membership in July.
- Councilors discussed how membership benefits, strategies, and fees should differ for international chapters like Ryerson University.
- Councilors asked about the feasibility of taking the Midwest Quad’s Health and Wellness Week and expanding it to more chapters; current Quad Directors felt that it was something that could be coordinated easily.
- The Membership Committee and the Learning & Technology Task Force will be looking into creating a guide for Social Media outreach for chapters, as prompted by Councilors.
- Councilors that had hosted a Quad Conference before would prefer that there be more guidance or feedback for hosting one, and would appreciate taking a survey or collecting more information about it from year to year. The new schedule for the academic calendar (as opposed to annual calendar) was also discussed: although the first Fall Quad Conference in recent memory had some timing issues, the Board assured everyone that, as suggested, we would work with the new Quad Conference Planning Teams to help conferences be more successful.
- Learning and Teaching Culture and the AIAS Learning and Teaching Culture Policy Project was discussed at length. Chapter leaders shared what had been going on at their school, and what strategies worked best for them. An update about the LTCPP was also given in a report.
- Resources and content for Treasurers as produced by the Finance Committee was applauded, but Councilors asked if there could be more teaching at Grassroots and also offline for those that can’t attend Grassroots.
The next AIAS Board of Directors Meeting will take place in Washington, DC, in mid-March 2020. The next AIAS Council of Presidents Meeting will take place in Washington, DC, at the conclusion of AIAS Grassroots on August 2, 2020. Stay tuned and check in with your Quad Directors for updates about how these discussions and actions are being resolved and affecting you as a member and chapter.
