California Architects

In September 2013, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), in an effort to explore potential new pathways to architectural licensure, convened its Licensure Task Force. Then-NCARB President Blakely C. Dunn stated, the task force will have some of the best and brightest thinkers from within and outside the Council to consider how the three integral components to licensure (education, examination, and experience) might be integrated into a new path. The blue-ribbon panel consisted of representatives from the four architectural collateral organizations, educators, newly-licensed architects, interns, and board members from various jurisdictions.

NCARB, in May 2014, announced its endorsement of a new structured path to licensure that would bring examination and internship requirements into the curriculum of National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) accredited programs in order to provide licensure upon graduation. In its statement, NCARB said the Task Force would begin identifying colleges and universities that are interested in participating in the program first with a Request for Interest and Information (RFI&I) and then followed by a Request for Proposal (RFP). At the state level, the Board convened a summit at its February 26, 2014 meeting where representatives from the NAAB-accredited programs held a discussion on the national efforts to integrate the components of licensure into their respective degree curriculum. Two schools (Woodbury University and the NewSchool of Architecture and Design) provided detailed presentations on potential pathways for accomplishing the goal of licensure upon (or soon after) graduation.

In September 2014, NCARB released its RFI&I to NAAB-accredited programs for assessment of the interest level and readiness to design and develop an integrated path leading to licensure. Responses to the RFI&I were due the end of October 2014. Based upon the feedback the NCARB Board of Directors received, the specifications of the RFP were developed. To support California institutions pursuing the RFI&I, the Board adopted a position statement for an additional path to licensure that integrates the foundational components. NCARB released the RFP on January 23, 2015 to schools requesting formal proposals for an integrative program. Responses are due to NCARB in June 2015.

The Board, at its March 12, 2015 meeting, held another summit to follow-up on last year’s discussions with the California NAAB-accredited schools. Woodbury University and the NewSchool of Architecture and Design provided the Board with an update detailing two proposed curricula which fulfill the objectives of the integrative concept.

Presently, the Board is monitoring NCARB’s actions on the matter and is, as an objective in its 2015–2016 Strategic Plan, collaborating with California NAAB-accredited schools to establish and promote an additional (integrative) path to licensure.