Strong continuing-education programs advance the building industry for all. Firms share culture and skills, components create strong networks, and service and product providers offer continuing education to clients as a way to build trust. The AIA Continuing Education System department offers its congratulations to three examples of this culture of sharing: this year’s AIA Continuing Education System Awards for Excellence winners.

AIA Large Firm, Excellence Award

Mithun, Seattle
From the time University of Washington professor Omer Mithun founded the firm as a teaching practice in 1949, continuing education has remained a primary goal of the firm’s leadership and strategic plan, the architects report. Camaraderie, leadership, and inspired design all stem from learning together and leading one another, so, to that end, the 135-person Mithun offers two continuing ed programs: Mithuniversity and MIT (Mithun Institute of Technology).

Mithuniversity is the firm’s professional development arm of continuing education. Firm members and industry professionals are invited to broaden the staff’s knowledge through presentations, crit sessions, open debates, and discourse. Topics range from design and technical presentation to project management marketing and sustainability. Ultimately, the program keeps team members abreast of industry developments, creates better projects, and fulfills AIA continuing education units.

MIT educates staff on resource technology and software resources available in the office. Taught by Mithun’s staff experts, lunchtime classes focus on the practical parameters of design, word processing, and graphic software. MIT’s objective is to improve the Mithun staff’s skill level in CAD, graphics, and Microsoft Office applications.

The firm’s structure also supports education with “FIAs” (Firm Interest Areas), which include design, technical interests, project management, legal issues, and technology. The FIAs are open to all staff and meet monthly to discuss ideas, concerns, and issues in their related areas. This information is used to develop the content for MIT and Mithuniversity courses, allowing them to be dynamic and constantly adjusted to the needs of the team and the issues that affect the firm’s work. The entire education plan is strongly supported by the firm’s board of directors, who created a Quality Support Process overseen by three senior members of the firm.

AIA Stakeholders—Commercial, Excellence Award

Custom Building Products, Seal Beach, Calif.
Custom Building Products, widely recognized as a lead manufacturer of tile and stone installation products, works closely with architecture firms and the AIA to “facilitate progress in products, methods, and education that addresses the continuous changes in the construction industry and subsequent challenges to architects.” Custom also collaborates with the Tile Council of America, National Tile Contractors Association, Urban Land Institute, and the American National Standards Institute to develop AIA/CES programs.

Custom tells us that the company is proud to associate with the AIA/CES and remains committed to the architecture community as a provider of quality education as well as a partner to fellow providers in developing quality programs. Custom serves as an example for other AIA Stakeholders through implementation of the CES “Train the Trainer” program.

Custom has created an Architectural Resources program staffed by 8 architecture consultants and 19 regional technical representatives who provide in-depth support for architects and spec writers on projects throughout the U.S. The company currently offers 16 one-learning-unit CES programs. Further, members of the team often are contacted directly by architects for assistance in the specification process as a result of a Custom continuing education program. These projects are logged, tracked, and analyzed and used to tailor CES programs for the future.

AIA Component, Honorable Mention

AIA Orange County, Newport Beach, Calif.
AIA Orange County is proud of their continuing education program’s ability to meet the diverse professional needs of the county’s architect population, which has grown to be the third largest in California. The chapter’s professional development opportunities include a Continuing Education Seminar program, ongoing ARE preparatory seminars, IDP/Mentoring program, and a monthly design lecture series. They also take pride in their programs that reach out to the community, such as the Student Design Competition, which draws participants from five local community colleges.

The AIA Orange County continuing ed program stems from concern that members be able to find enough opportunities locally to meet requirements for membership in the AIA. In 2002, the chapter devised a series of CES programs to achieve four goals:

• AIA members can realize their CES requirements each year via programming from the chapter
• This program would be offered at minimal cost to AIA members, taking into consideration that continuing education is a requirement of membership in the AIA
• A non-dues revenue stream would be created, making it a self-supporting program
• This program, devised as a new “benefit of membership” to AIA Orange County members, would be available to non-members. The program would provide opportunities for professionals’ growth, as well as a means to acquire valuable mandatory continuing education for those licensed in states having mandatory continuing education as a requirement for licensure. (California does not require continuing education for licensure.)

The AIA Orange County County Continuing Education Seminar program reports tremendous success. They now provide a minimum of 12 seminars per quarter, a 500 percent increase from the 2002 calendar year.

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