The Integrated Path: SCAD and Georgia House Bill 41

Posted on by

by Dean Ivan Chow, AIA, NCARB

The Integrated Path at SCAD is a first. Along with a small cohort of schools nationwide, SCAD has implemented an unprecedented and rigorous academic track that incorporates all three components of professional licensure for architects – education, experience and examination – within its B.F.A and NAAB-accredited M.Arch. programs that would provide a structured framework for dedicated students to graduate with a license to practice architecture. In as few as seven years.

Georgia state law required the completion of an accredited architectural program prior to gaining access to the Architect Registration Examination (A.R.E.). That means no one can commence taking any section of the A.R.E. until they have graduated with a NAAB-accredited degree. In order to allow pre-graduation access to the A.R.E. for students on the Integrated Path, Georgia state law needed to be amended.

Taking on this crucial legislative component of the Integrated Path is also a first for SCAD. Early in 2016, SCAD crafted an amendment that proposed the insertion of nationally-approved NCARB model language into existing state law that would allow IPAL students to take divisions of the A.R.E. while they obtain education and experience.

With the support of state components of the American Institute of Architects, the Georgia Board of Architects and Interior Designers, local and regional architects and both Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State University, SCAD submitted House Bill 41 on January 11, 2017.

On January 30, 2017, alongside other supporters, leadership from SCAD’s architecture program, testified at a house regulated industries sub-committee hearing on the merits of the Integrated Path at SCAD and the positive impact it would have on the profession of architecture, especially in the State of Georgia.

The house sub-committee reconvened and approved the bill on February 15th with minor changes to the language, and sent it to the full committee, which approved HB41 on February 16th. The full House of Representatives approved HB41 170-1 on February 22nd after which it crossed over to the senate.

The senate regulated industries committee heard testimony and approved the bill on March 6th. Subsequently, the bill passed through the senate rules committee on March 10th followed by full senate approval on March 13th. House Bill 41 was signed into law by Governor Deal on May 1, 2017.

With this change of law allowing pre-graduation access to the A.R.E., along with the rigorous preparation of dedicated students in a fully integrated academic program, the Integrated Path promises to pave new ground in providing the following benefits to the profession:

  • Provides a structured and expeditious path to licensure for motivated individuals aspiring to become architects.
  • Supports a more comprehensive understanding of the practice of architecture, better preparing graduates for immediate productivity.
  • Provides a fully integrated understanding of professional practice during the formative years of development, which will strengthen the chance of long term professional success.
  • Reduces the cost of becoming an architect by offsetting the cost of education through an aggressive schedule of paid internship work.
  • Allows design firms a more streamlined approach to identifying and employing graduating architects who might fit their business profiles.
  • Women comprise more than 50% of architecture students, but comprise only 20% of licensed architects. The IPAL provides dedicated women a way of achieving licensure before other important life obligations take place.

The Integrated Path at SCAD will be a unique opportunity for select students with the highest degree of discipline and dedication to the architectural profession. This pioneering national initiative will keep Georgia in the forefront and serve as a model of advancement for the profession of architecture and the highest standard for those aspiring to lead the profession into the future.

Postscript: Since the implementation of the Integrated Path at SCAD in 2016, over 70% of the first cohort of freshman IPAL students have secured paid AXP internship work this summer from firms partnered with SCAD on this groundbreaking initiative.

Ivan Chow is Dean of the School of Building Arts at SCAD.