AIA’s Christopher Kelley Leadership Development Program provides participants the opportunity to form a cohort with other emerging professionals in the field of architecture (sixteen are selected each year from a group of well-qualified applicants), developing their skills on several focused topics in the once-a-month sessions throughout the year. The program honors Christopher Kelley’s legacy, an influential architect in the Washington D.C. community and an advocate for furthering the profession through mentorship. The program originated in Washington D.C., however local chapters now exist across the country, with additional chapters continuing to be established each year (Colorado’s first program year was 2017).
The program is well underway in its eighth year, with Bootcamp, Sessions 1 and 2 having occurred, where participants engaged in knowledge sharing from industry experts, team building and collaborative activities, and overall improving upon their professional skills. See below for a summary and highlights of the events thus far.
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This year’s program started with the “bootcamp session” hosted by AIA Colorado at The Alliance Center. Scholars (program participants) introduced themselves PechaKucha style, met the executive committee and learned the program’s expectations and responsibilities for the year to come. They were joined by guest speakers Rachel Yee, AIA, and Rebekah Wagoner, AIA, who were both able to share their experiences with CKLDP, some history of the program, and their advice to emerging professionals in the field of architecture. The session also included a workshop led by Jame Perkins of Jackalope Strategy to set group norms around values, decisions making, conflict resolution, meetings and communication/tools to be applied throughout the year.
Management + Mentorship
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The first session hosted by scholar pairing Hannah Hobbs, AIA, and Mackenzie Huber, AIA, included presentations by architectural leaders and principals in our local community covering topics such as the importance of active listening in leadership, improving interpersonal connections, balancing the team, client and architectural design stakeholders in projects, creating a supportive environment, and informal/formal mentorship. The session wrapped up with a panel comprised of representatives from the A/E industry where participants discussed their experiences with mentorship, where the relationships and benefits to be had, go both ways.
Equity, Diversity + Inclusion
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The second session, hosted by Wei Zhao, AIA, and Ash Baldwin, AIA, focused on ways to be more inclusive as a design professional and how to better understand others’ perspectives, unpacking biases within ourselves and the industry. The session began with “A Brief History of the Color Line in Colorado” by Dr. Tom Romero, discussing architecture’s connection to the land, organization by law, the history and recognizing impacts. The second speaker, Brian Fagerstrom, AIA, shared the Native American land perspective, and one particular project, where a large effort was made to bring together more than 30 tribes from six states to be consulted prior to the start of design for Fishers Peak State Park. Adriana Medina-López-Portillo facilitated a workshop with Summer Westbrooks to unpack how explicit and implicit biases occur. Jessica Bantom presented “6 Habits of Culturally Competent Designers”, reminding the group that consistent effort is needed to embody cultural competence. Lastly, the session wrapped up with a Safe Place Discussion, asking “Where do we go from here?” joined by members of the AIA Colorado JEDI Committee.