Licensure in the Time of Coronavirus

By Avik Guha, AIA, Project Manager at Roth Sheppard Architects and Jered Minter, AIA, Campus Architect at the University of Colorado Denver, Office of Institutional Planning

Although not the topic we expected to be covering, please read on for an update from the NCARB/AIA Colorado Architect Licensing Advisors. 2020 is a transition year, with both outgoing Avik K Guha, AIA, NCARB, CDT and incoming Jered Minter, AIA both active in the role together.

We send our sympathies to all who are directly impacted by the virus, and everyone in the architecture community dealing with the economic effects and unusual workflow for our collaborative industry.

For Avik, it has been especially disappointing as he received an Architectural Education Foundation travel scholarship in 2019 and is canceling 70+ reservations for a trip planned to start on April 16, 2020. The trip included a loop around the world through five continents; you can follow him on Instagram (@thearchitecttraveler) and at https://architecttraveler.com/ when his travels resume in 2021. His office, Roth Sheppard Architects, has all staff working from home with their full computer workstations. The firm stays in touch with weekly scheduling meetings and happy hours where all employees have face-to-face interaction via video chat.

Jered has been adapting to working at home also. He and his wife are able to work full-time and spend a large part of their day on the phone/online. They are doing well while blending work and family life but there are real challenges. Their two-year-old daughter is home and so their work schedules no longer follow a typical workflow. They both find themselves working nights and weekends to find balance in work/family life. The good news is their daughter is working hard to learn Revit so she can pick up Jered’s redlines!

For our Colorado candidates who are testing, please see the below on NCARB’s modified policies on testing and timelines. Here’s what you need to know as of now:

• Effective from March 12 and continuing through the end of April, all ARE appointments can be rescheduled at no cost to you. This window is subject to extension.
• A 90-day rolling clock extension was applied retroactively to all valid passing scores as of March 1. All extensions were granted via NCARB’s candidate management system on March 24. Visit https://www.ncarb.org/pass-the-are/start/rolling-clock for more on the ARE rolling clock.
• Prometric has temporarily closed all test centers in the United States and Canada for 30 days, beginning on March 18. This date is subject to extension.
• If you already had a division scheduled between March 18 and March 31, NCARB should have applied a seat credit within 72 hours of your appointment, allowing you to reschedule at no additional cost to you. In the case of issues, contact NCARB customer service at the link below.
• On March 31, all appointments between April 1 and April 15 were automatically canceled. NCARB will apply a seat credit to your appointment, allowing you to reschedule at no additional cost to you. In case of issues, contact NCARB customer service at the link below.
• If you have an appointment scheduled before the end of April, NCARB encourages candidates to login to their NCARB Record and reschedule existing appointments for late-May at the earliest. If you had/have an existing appointment with Prometric and do not reschedule on your own, you will receive instructions directly from Prometric to assist you in rescheduling your appointment at no additional cost once it is safe to resume testing.
• When testing begins again, candidates may be permitted to wear medical masks and gloves while testing, but these items will be subject to visual inspection upon entry to the test center.

To stay up to date on changes and for more clarification and FAQ’s on Coronavirus impacts on licensure, please visit:

https://www.ncarb.org/press/prometric-are-rescheduling-update and

https://www.ncarb.org/press/2020-coronavirus-update

You can contact NCARB customer service at: https://www.ncarb.org/contact or call 202-879-0520

In general there are no changes to the education and experience components of licensure in regards to NCARB policies. For those who may face difficulties in obtaining ‘A hours’ in a licensed Architecture setting, please visit https://www.ncarb.org/gain-axp-experience/experience-requirements/setting-o to learn about ways to complete Other ‘O hours’.

With more time indoors, it may be a good time for candidates to prepare for exams to knock them out once testing resumes. Even with everything going on right now, it is possible to stay on track for your path to licensure!

For those who are unfamiliar, the Architect Licensing Advisor is a state-level joint NCARB and AIA Colorado role that lasts three years. The Advisor provides presentations to university classes and AIAS groups about licensure, collaborates with DORA for presentations at AIA Colorado, and provides personalized guidance for licensure questions and cases at axp@aiacolorado.org. Please feel free to reach out if you have a licensure or Colorado/DORA specific licensure question!