Foundation Continues its Core Mission
Bruce Sekanick, FAIA, President, AIA Ohio Foundation

With the end of the school year approaching, the AIA Ohio Foundation has continued our efforts to provide financial assistance to students and the five accredited architectural programs in Ohio.  As many know, the AIA Ohio Foundation works with the administration of the schools each year to award scholarships to deserving students.  For the last dozen plus years, these scholarships have totaled $3,000 per school, or $15,000 per year.  These scholarships can only occur because of the generosity of AIA Ohio members.  To date, 114 students have benefited from the AIA Ohio Foundation scholarship program with more to be awarded over the next few months.  Depending on the program, the scholarships are given to one deserving student or are broken into several scholarships to assist a larger number of students.

While the Foundation may be able to provide funding, the board is not able to understand the needs of the students or appropriately determine those who are most deserving.  For this reason, the Foundation leaves the recipient selection to the scholarship committee at each school.  Each program has its own needs and objectives, and by working with the internal scholarship committee, the Foundation is able to best serve the Ohio architectural student population.

While the scholarship program may be the best-known program, the AIAS grants program was established to create an outreach to a larger number of students.  AIAS chapter funding, in the amount of $1,500 per year, per school, has allowed the Foundation to help the student organization enhance the value they can provide to student members.  While the pandemic impacted this effort in 2020 and 2021, the Foundation is committed to ensuring that each school receives the monies appropriated to their AIAS chapter.  This year, the Foundation will award $18,000 in AIAS grants.  This programming allows the schools to bring in speakers, develop programming, and send students and leadership to the Quad Conferences or the AIAS Grassroots program.  Each of these activities expands the students skill sets and advances the future of the profession.

Through these initiatives, the AIA Ohio Foundation has created a student outreach program that strengthens the future of the profession.  To help support the AIA Ohio Foundation, please visit our webpage at The AIA Ohio Foundation | AIA Ohio.