Summary: A jury has selected three outstanding individuals as the recipients of the new AIA Associates Award. Formerly known as the Associate of the Year Award under the jurisdiction of the National Associates Committee (NAC), the AIA Board of Directors last year approved a request from the NAC to elevate the stature of the award to one of the Institute Honors for Professional Achievement awards. The recipients will be recognized at the 2008 AIA National Convention and Design Exposition in Boston this May.

John Cary. Assoc. AIA, Berkeley, Calif., currently is studying in Rome on an American Academy of Rome Prize Fellowship. His other fellowships have included ideas fellow, Aspen Ideas Festival; senior fellow, Design Futures Council; and the Charles Moore Fellowship for the Study of Place. He currently is on six-month leave as the executive director of nonprofit Public Architecture, where he directs projects and also launched and coordinated the 1% Solution, a national pro bono program. Cary was one the founding members and operations director of ArchVoices, a virtual think tank on architecture education, internship, and licensure. He served as vice president of the American Institute of Architecture Students in 1999–2000 and as editor-in-chief for the AIAS newsletter, Crit. Cary earned his BA summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota and his MArch from the University of California, Berkeley, where he also served as a graduate student instructor. His service to the national AIA includes roles on the Diversity Committee, Diversity Data Collection Task Force, Education/Practitioner Network, and the Gold Medal and Firm Award advisory jury. He further served on the AIAS’ Crit advisory committee, as a National Architectural Accreditation Board visiting team member from 1999-2004, and as student director for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture from 1999–2000.

Raymond Dehn, Assoc. AIA, LEED-AP, Minneapolis, has been actively engaged in the profession for more than a decade, beginning with his service as president of the American Institute of Architecture Students in 1996-1997. In 2001, Dehn served as the North Central States’ representative to the AIA’s inaugural National Associates Committee and represented that group on the AIA Board as well as on the national Livable Communities and Board Knowledge communities. Dehn was one the founding members and president of ArchVoices. Also active in supporting his community, this past year Dehn has been a member of the Washington Boulevard Vision Design Team, one of the Mayor’s Great City Design Teams that is working in conjunction with Minneapolis’ AIA 150 Blueprint for America project. Dehn, who earned both his BA and MArch from the University of Minnesota, has received the Alpha Rho Chi Medal, President’s Student Leadership & Service Awards, and a fellowship and scholarship from his alma mater. He also is the recipient of an AIA Minnesota Presidential Citation and an AIA/AAF national scholarship. Currently an associate with Elness Swenson Graham Architects, Dehn also has worked for a number of other firms in Minneapolis, including The Leonard Parker Associates, Feyereisen Studios, and HGA Inc.

Jonathan Matthew Taylor, Assoc. AIA, since becoming the Massachusetts’ Intern Development Program (IDP) coordinator in 2002, has helped myriad interns and students navigate through their education and internships. His venues have included Build Boston, the Boston Society of Architects’ annual convention, as well as career fairs, high schools, and most recently arcitrack.org, his Web site devoted to supplying information 24/7. This Web site was the precursor for the joint effort of the AIA and the American Institute of Architecture Students launch of archcareers.org. Taylor also is creator of a statewide e-mail list of more than 600 subscribers of intern-architects registered with NCARB; they receive updates and news from him on IDP, ARE, and other licensure issues. In 2004, he created and has since administered the Intern-Architect Friendly Firm Program, the guidelines of which also have become a model for national programs. In the past year, Taylor has also become an active member of the National Associates Committee and the AIA New England board of directors. He was graduated from Syracuse University in 2000 with a BArch and a minor in architectural history and has worked for Goody Clancy in Boston since 2001. There he is involved in all project phases in a team environment on the design and/or restoration of numerous academic and civic buildings.