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I thought that I’d pause in the effort to share my reference library to reflect on something that happened back in late August.
Traveling home from a few days of closing out the family cottage and winterizing the building for the coming season, I received a phone call from the State of Minnesota Licensing and Registration Board over an application that I had submitted.
I was about to learn that I was screwed again.
The story is much longer than the span of a single phone call from the licensing board, and spans a decade of rules and regulations – so my endeavor is to keep things succinct and even tempered.
I already had a work history that included years worth of AutoCAD architectural and engineering drafting to work my way thru college – it was easier for me to pick up entry level ‘intern’ positions in various places. At one point – I’d even flirted with not going to school at all because I’d already had a design position, but that smelled too much like complacency and I wanted more.
I thrived in the competitive atmosphere in school. I went from being an average student in high school to one that had discussions with teaching assistants about why there was a ‘ – ‘ sign next to my A grade.
I left college, and returned to finish off my missing semester’s worth of credits – completing my Bachelor of Science in Architecture as initially intended. I was squarely in the workforce already, and applying for the Master’s program meant revisiting the zero income level and heavy debt that I was crawling out from under. So that portion of the path went unexplored.
No NAAB accredited professional degree was to be had – which is germane to the story.
Once I landed in a steadier position, had a small life carved out – it came time for licensure.
At the time, in the State of Wisconsin one could apply for licensure without obtaining a M.Arch. The applicant needed only to document 7 years worth of efforts in some combination of either supervised work, or work + education.
So, by path #2 – I had already obtained the degree + 2 years of my documented hours in order to sit for the exam… or had I?
With a friend and co-worker of mine, Justin – we gathered all materials and filled out the application to sit for the ARE (Architect’s Registration Exam). *EDIT He had taken the same path I did – BS of Architectural Studies, although most of my friends went the Master’s of Architecture direction (Some even in the Ivy League).
We both received our application packages a few weeks later.
Now this part was dripping with irony, and I was incensed at the time.
By some filing mistake – he received his certificate of licensure, and all the paperwork required to practice without sitting for any exams. According to the State of Wisconsin – he had gotten his license.
It gets better… I got an application denial.
According to the state, because while I was attending classes and working 50+ hours a week – I couldn’t count both work and education at the same time and had to REFILE.
By the time that I went back thru years of hours and paperwork, I’d already accumulated the work time in order to balance out the time that I was ‘missing’ due to ‘double counting’ so I was back to even. The application was approved.
Justin had also ironed out his clerical error at the state, and we both convinced the company to help us get ARE study materials for the next steps on the path.
So, we started in with a single copy of the ARE study materials it was a divided effort.
I built up a head of steam, and was lax in studying one of the sections as confidence built up. I failed a section on practice, because my understanding of liability was slightly tainted by the design-build office that I worked in. C’est la Vie.
The kicker is, that’s when I learned of the 6 month wait until you could schedule a retest. That threw me off the game entirely and I over-studied for my remaining sections.
The structure sections had me paranoid, as my record since starting elementary school was that I wasn’t strong in math. Physics? not an issue. I excelled explaining the nature of materials… but calculating moments, shear, and the modulus of elasticity were entirely foreign.
Walking into that course – I KNEW every imaginable formula inside out and backward. Only to get into the testing center, sign on to the computer and learn that all of them could be accessed thru a help menu during the test – which was a little deflating but I passed regardless. I just wished I hadn’t burned months on paranoia of the unknown.
BUT, I had turned a weakness into a strength, and no one can take that away from you.
I had achieved. I received my certificate, my stamp, and my number. I am a member of the elite club of licensed professionals. Sigh of relief, party, increase in pay and firm handshakes all around.
By this point in the career path, I had migrated to a new job – and while it was rewarding, the market place that I was in left a lot to be desired. My old teacher’s assistant seemed to be the only one in town ‘designing’ anything of import, and I started searching for opportunities in other places. I was licensed maybe 6 months at this point. Also germane to the story.
I landed a position at MS&R Design, a boutique firm in Minneapolis who specialized in libraries and adaptive reuse and walking in there was like I had been allowed into the promised land. A REAL architecture firm that is fully positioned to produce Architecture with the capital A. And they have, and for a short time – I was a part of it.
I was a licensed professional in good standing and working for a great firm. Everything that I dreamt of when I started on the path.
Except….
A year or so went by, and as I researched the path to get licensed in other states – I found out that there was no path for me.
NCARB (The National Council of Architecture Registration Boards) had bylaws about applying for a certificate and participating in the career on the national stage, without the NAAB accredited degree.
The Broadly Experienced Architect path which allowed an applicant to submit a portfolio of completed work, along with letters of recommendation and a mentorship program, as outlined, contained the phrase “in the jurisdiction where you hold a license”.
By the letter of the law – I had no projects that qualified. I got licensed in the State of Wisconsin, moved 6 months later and was on projects all over the country. None of which were in Wisconsin. Matter of fact – I STILL haven’t completed a project in Wisconsin and this is 15 years later.
I began a letter writing and email campaign to inquire about what my path might be. There wasn’t one.
Letters were written to no avail. Often times to no response or receipt. I felt like I was being held out of the career that I loved.
Never more so than when I was laid off from the dream job. The last project that I had completed documents for, was shelved for construction until markets started to rebound a bit. I was basically in the same boat that a lot of us find ourselves in now.
Since I’m not one to back down from a difficult task, and it was obvious that there was only one way that I was going to gain acceptance in the eyes of the accreditation board. I scheduled an appointment at the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota to discuss options to further my career horizon. I wasn’t exactly doing anything anyway and had a need + a rare abundance of free time…
We sat down and discussed a fast-tracked education path for me to obtain my master’s degree. The classes that I could take, the credits that I would need and waiving some of the standard requirements given my experience and licensure…
All good things – except for the price tag. It was going to cost me $100,000 or more for 18 months of augmented education.
The whole conversation, the counselor that I met with was slightly aghast at why anyone would take this on. I told him that the target was licensure. The only way that I could be called an architect was to get passed this requirement. He repeated the question.
“Listen, with your work experience – you’re qualified to teach here at an undergrad level. Why would you want to take on $100,000 in student loans in order to have essentially what you have already?”
I was staring down the barrel of selling my furniture and stuff to make rent. I was on the path to living out of my car. There was no way that I was going to be able to afford to do it.
I had to walk away from the idea.
A few years later, NCARB revised its rules…
This brings us to 2 years ago. (2018)
The revised NCARB Experience program is a great new tracking tool and a far cry from the self-built excel tracking tools that I had to make to get thru the reporting process.
It was finally revised to include a path for people such as myself to obtain an NCARB certificate. I was FINALLY going to be able to apply for licensure in other states.
I parted ways with thousands of dollars in application money, set up my account and over the holidays – tracked and filled out all my hours so that my boss at the time could sign off. I got notice that he had signed off a couple days after Christmas. Finally I was getting somewhere.
I received my NCARB certificate, I could finally apply for licensure in other jurisdictions.
Except…
This brings us to sumer of 2020. Unemployed and looking for a path to my own firm, I filled out the application to be licensed in the state that I’ve lived in since 2005, to serve my community as a licensed architect in good standing.
I parted ways with the application fees, paid the $375 for NCARB to submit my records, and waited for my letter. Finally I was going to be able to play.
Except…
The letter I received, wasn’t the one that I expected. It was a rejection letter stating that I don’t meet the state qualifications requiring the NAAB accredited education requirement. I’ve run my own consulting firm, run projects, run teams, with projects that received awards nationally and internationally – and I’m still not allowed to play.
So I sent email after email, tweets, and have been trying to contact anyone that I could in the AIA or NCARB organizations to no avail. I emailed the state board contacts that I could find posted on their website about the process to petition the decision.
That’s what the phone call was about.
I was pulled over, in the middle of Wisconsin in the parking lot of a closed ice cream stand. On the phone with the State Registration Board.
What I learned on that phone call was that there is no path.
The NCARB certificate and recognition for my established professional record carries NO weight with the application process.
All the hours tracked, all the waiting, all the fees paid – mean nothing.
I also learned about the hearing process.
The petition process was to uncover whether or not the board had properly applied the current laws to my application. Even if I were to schedule a date, hire a lawyer and petition the board to take into account anything else in my application – they can’t do it.
The best that I can do at this time is to try and get on the hearing schedule to petition the state to revisit the state requirements which may or may not allow me to apply at some future date.
And at the end of it, because I used the word ‘architect’ in my email signature – there was a kindly worded veiled threat of a cease and desist order if I didn’t add the state to the description.
Years of begging, thousands in fees, and the taste I’m left with is ‘change you email sig because you’re not allowed to describe what you are.
Same tests, same path, same job history and for the sake of a class on behavioral theory, color theory, and the AIA practice manual plus a thesis project – I’m still disavowed after 20 years in the AIA.
I’m exhausted. I’m just going to be honest.
I’m not looking for favors. I’m not begging to be included under some auspice of invented slight. I know I don’t have the 6-figure piece of paper with the right letters on it. It’s fact.
I will say that it’s been a disheartening path to go this route. It’s easy to be discouraged. Its a little insulting to be gate-kept this hard after surviving one downturn that almost ruined me, just to be met with another one, and yet another kick in the pants over gate-keeping in the professional practice of designing creative solutions for the construction of buildings to promote health, the environment and betterment of people’s lives.
I have achieved no less than any other in this profession under the same guidelines and I’m no less qualified to participate.
What happens now is for me to shed light on the situation, by sharing my cautionary tale with the profession, and continue to write letters on behalf of myself and anyone else who might find themselves in a similar situation.
In order to homogenize the application process, they all accepted the base guidelines from NCARB. In doing so, there’s basically a fence up around the profession that would keep people like me from practicing fully in most states.
There is no additional testing or qualification path for anyone in this situation to petition the be allowed into the profession.
To be clear, I’m not screaming disenfranchisement or any form of discrimination. I’m asking to be allowed to participate in a profession on equal standing thru some proscribed path, and hopefully one that isn’t prohibitively expensive.
One based on merit rather than pedigree. I’d settle for post-professional courses or CEUs on professional practice or something. I’ve taken my fair share of insurance liability seminars and cranked out additional CEUs (continuing education units) to maintain my license over the years. I’m not afraid of a little work.
What I am, is tired of being met with the word ‘no’ for 20 years despite proving my worth.
Cheers,
Wisconsin Architect, John
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