Iowa Women in Architecture 2020 Year in Review
Iowa Women in Architecture
2020 Year in Review
For the past 9 years, we have been striving to fulfill our mission by; increasing the visibility of women in design and related fields, advocating for issues relevant to women within design professions, advancing women in leadership positions, and leading a discussion about cultural change in design professions. Fields that have struggled to retain women at the same level as men.
This year, we’ve seen an impeachment, a global pandemic, office restructuring as firms try to adapt to CDC guidelines, political divisiveness, and racial injustice in our country and state. But we’ve also seen our members get married. And have their first baby. We’ve seen a past Chair recognized as a Des Moines Business Record 40 under 40. We’ve had members graduate from the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute. We’ve seen women in the design industry get promoted to leadership positions in their firms across the state of Iowa. We’ve seen our members get involved politically. We’ve seen members use their voices to say, “We expect better”. When much of the world put events on hold or canceled because it wouldn’t be the same as normal, Iowa Women in Architecture decided that now – more than ever – the world needs good leadership. Progress is happening, and we want to highlight all the good things that Iowa Women in Architecture accomplished last year. Here are our 2020 highlights!
THANK YOU - 2019-2020 CORPORATE MEMBERS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
WHO’S A MEMBER OF IAWIA?
Women, men, architects, landscape architects, interior designers, engineers, construction managers, marketing strategists, graphic designers, lighting designers, HR staff, anyone who wants to increase the number of women retained in design and construction fields by supporting, empowering, and celebrating women in opportunities to lead, learn, and share.
IMPACT THEME
We know that designers are equipped with a plethora of skills and talents that impact our built environment. In our workbook and corresponding events, we explored how designers of the built environment leverage those skills to benefit our communities.
This year, IAWIA focused on how design professionals can build stronger communities and advance our professional development at the same time. We have spent the past year exploring 5 key themes of impact including public impact design, engaging the public, sustainability, volunteering, and designing for culture.
EVENTS
Our Education and Programs committees hosted rich educational events that highlighted how we can extend our talents to benefit our communities. While many were in person, we pivoted to webinar format for the latter half of our events in order to keep our members and community safe.
We toured the Food Bank of Iowa, learning about the impactful mission and needs happening in our own community by Keynote presenter Bergetta Beardsley.
We hosted a Panel Discussion at the Des Moines Public Library on affordable housing in Des Moines. “No Place Like Home”. Our featured Moderator was Erin Olson-Douglas (Economic Development Director with the City of Des Monies) and the featured panelists were Emily Osweiler (Executive Director of the YMCA Supportive Housing Campus), Hannah Landgraf (Director of Advancement at Anawim Housing), and Lauren Johnson, Director of Communications and Community Outreach at Polk County Housing Trust Fund
The Board of Directors Volunteered at WeCare, an event organized by Pigott and held at McCombs Boys & Girls Club.
We volunteered for International Women’s Day and helped create period packs through Give Grace Give Hope, hosted at The Hall in West Des Moines.
When we pivoted our events to be solely virtual, we learned that it gave us the opportunity to not only still host fantastic events but invite panelists and attendees from all across the country.
Pro Bono & Public Impact Design Panel Discussion: This pro bono & public impact design panel discussion with CannonDesign Open Hand Studio, DLR Group, and bcWORKSHOP to discuss the topic of pro bono work in the architecture and design profession including the practicalities of pro bono work, the experience of working on a pro bono project, and recommendations for firms hoping to start implementing this service into their practice.
We ended the fiscal year with an impactful keynote lecture from Imani Day about diversity in architecture.
We held 5 Breakfast socials that followed the Iowa Women in Architecture IMPACT workbook
November - February - June (virtual) - August (virtual) - September (virtual)
Eastern Iowa and Central Iowa held their own kick-off event at Cedar Ridge Winery on top of breakfast socials every month. We owe a huge amount of gratitude to our liaison for central Iowa, Brenda Nelson, who has been spearheading IAWIA programming in central Iowa for the last 5 years.
A student chapter at Iowa State University extends these opportunities to students and faculty at the state’s only architecture program and responds to particular needs of students. In the last year, the IAWIA student group hosted a membership drive and presented research; Hosted a student portfolio review night, Professional and student members got to attend and converse with Architexx Co-Founder Lori Brown during her lecture at ISU: “What Responsibility Do Architects Have to Create a More Just World” Members; attended the ISU Career Fair and met with IAWIA professional members to prep for their conversations with future employers; and held several event college wide events to promote women in the design professions at ISU.
ACE SCHOLARSHIP: Vanessa Cruz Escobar, senior at Lincoln High School, has participated in the ACE Mentor Program for the past three years. She was awarded a $2,000 scholarship at the ACE Year-End Presentation on behalf of AIA Iowa and Iowa Women in Architecture.
A’ 20 NATIONAL CONVENTION SEMINAR: We were part of 20 WID groups that helped submit a lecture submission to the AIA 2020 National Convention. Our proposal was accepted and WID groups from all across the country were working together to organize a 90-minute seminar aimed “to learn about effective programs and events centered on the topics of design and leaderships, workplace culture, and professional practice and development. IAWIA and the other presenters and roundtable discussion leaders were to demonstrate how their initiatives can improve the workplace and lay the groundwork for building networks that strengthen collaborative efforts to elevate women in leadership roles and advance women in the field” While the AIA National Convention was canceled due to COVID, we hope to get the opportunity to present our work at the A’21!
The Women in Architecture Exhibit is a physical display curated in 2015 showcasing contributions women have made to the profession at both the national and local levels. Our physical display is current through 2015 but our LOCAL data has been tracked to 202 and beyond. We are excited to announce that the IAWIA exhibit officially went virtual this year. Visit iawomenarch.org/timeline.
We continue to offer Iowa Women in Architecture SWAG for sale on iawomenarch.org/iawia-swag.
We launched our official Instagram last January to provide a platform full of rich content – to highlight the contributions of women in the design profession, and to advocate for issues relevant to social change. We have re-pledged support to our fellow humans in standing up and being the best allies to the anti-racist effort.
BPR Reboot: One of our biggest initiatives is the Best Practice Recommendations Document for the Design Profession. This document urges architecture firms to apply their spirit of innovation to the management of our practices, revising the ways we operate our businesses to respond to the demands of life. We kicked off the process of revisioning this invaluable document.
Iowa Women is excited to enter 2021 - our tenth year as an organization – with as much passion and vigor as ever. We have been doing a lot of reflecting. We look back on our time leading change in the design professions with much pride, but now more than ever we know that real change takes accountability, education, and action. We must use this momentum to guide us through the next ten years.