"Fellow"

haha. a new episode is coming soon.

so what does the "fellow" mean? is it something you have to be elected to?

yes. Every year, the AIA recieves bunches of applications, and picks who they want to elect to the College of Fellows.

It took our marketing department a significant dedication of time and effort to prepare one of our principal's FAIA application/book.

To earn this prestigeous distinction, one needs to prove an outstanding commitment or achievement in a specific field of architecture.

i'm sure i'll leave something(s) out or perhaps will get something(s) slightly wrong but in essence:

fellowship status is achieved b/c a person has made a significant or multiple contributions to the profession at typically the national level or that has had an impact at the national level even if completed at the local or state level, and have been members of the aia for at least 10 years (please someone correct me if i'm wrong with the time). for example, a friend of mine helped propose and write the energy code, another has made signigicant contributions to the k-12 system in terms of the effects of the built environment.

to be awarded the FAIA someone has to nominate you, there are a number of letters that must be written and an extreme amount of documentation on both the part of the nominator and the nominee.

it really is alot of work and there are quite a few people who are nominated each year but very few receive the honor. i think very highly of the people i know who have achieved this honor and feel there are others i've met over the years who really should have received the honor when they didn't.

wierd part is that they don't award FAIA to multiple people for collaborative work.

example: two of my professors that are married have practiced together ever since. almost all their work as licensed architects has been together as a team. but only one got FAIA one year, and later the next year, the other was given it.

If I am thinking of the correct couple, the one who got it had many decades of work on top of the other.

Ooops. To rushed to read. Probably not the couple I am thinking of...

Now thinking of another, younger couple.

You don't necessarily have to be a fabulous architect to get it - it is also awarded for service to the profession, so you will find some folks who have served on the State Architect's Board for ten years who are fellows. Like the AIA after our names, its aura is more impressive sometimes that what it is supposed to stand for.

ACfA- did the man get it first?

In addition to service to the AIA, they also sometimes reward educational service. One professor I know who's a fellow has not done much actual architect-ing at all, but has been a devoted teacher for decades.

DCA

do you work in Culver City?

rationalist-

actually the wife got it first. the AIA has some helpful aspects, but in some respects i think the organization might perpetuate the old-boy/archaic aspects that hang around in our profession.

and like any organization politics come into play on who gets to be a fellow.

or you can always shoot for the HAIA