By William J. Martin, AIA-NJ Public Awareness Co-Chair
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AIA-NJ News | Architects League of Northern New Jersey | EquityInArchitecture | K12 Architecture Education | Women in Architecture
Celebrating a Career of Service and Mentorship
AIA New Jersey and the AIA Architects League of Northern New Jersey are delighted to congratulate past president Stacey Ruhle Kliesch, AIA, on receiving an Alumni Achievement Award from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). The award recognizes her longstanding commitment to preparing and mentoring the next generation of architects through education, academic service, K–12 outreach, and decades of volunteer leadership with the American Institute of Architects.
Award Celebration Details
The award celebration will take place on Friday, October 16, 2026, on the NJIT campus.
Full NJIT announcement: https://news.njit.edu/stacey-ruhle-kliesch-aia-99-recognized-njit-alumni-achievement-award
Professional and Academic Leadership
Kliesch is principal of Stacey Ruhle Kliesch, Architect, LLC. She is licensed to practice architecture in New York and New Jersey and is a New Jersey Certified Interior Designer. She has served as an adjunct professor, guest lecturer, or visiting critic at NJIT’s Hillier College of Architecture and Design, Kean University’s Michael Graves College, Berkeley College, and Bergen Community College.
Advancing Education and Mentorship
Kliesch mentors colleagues at every career stage and is especially committed to the K–12 community. She contributed to Building Connections, an American Architectural Foundation publication featuring K–12 programs she developed for her college thesis and refined through 10 years of field experience. Since the New Jersey School Boards Association launched its annual STEAM Tank Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition in 2015, she has served as both a team adviser and juror. She also spent 18 years as academic programs liaison to NJIT’s Hillier College of Architecture and Design and has served on advisory boards for Endicott College, Northern Valley Regional High School’s STEM program, Hudson County Schools of Technology High Tech High School’s CTE program, and Fair Lawn High School’s CTE program.
Her additional outreach roles have included guest lecturer for the Oakland Public Schools Gifted & Talented Program; architect-in-residence at Central School in Warren, New Jersey, through Arts Horizons; member of the New York Foundation for the Arts Design Education Advisory Committee; presenter for the Alliance for Arts Education’s Artist/Teacher Institute; instructor for the Gifted Child Society; mentor to Architects Foundation scholarship recipients; presenter for the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs’ Girls Career Institute; Architecture Badge mentor for the Girl Scouts of Bergen County; and New Jersey Interior Design Wish Maker for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Leadership and Service within AIA
Stacey Ruhle Kliesch is an AIA New Jersey and AIA Architects League of Northern New Jersey Past President.
Kliesch’s contributions have helped AIA New Jersey and AIA ALNNJ receive Architecture Week K–12 grants each year the program has been offered. Her AIA service includes editing and contributing to the AIA K–12 Design Competitions Guide, presenting at the AIA Leadership Conference, and receiving an AIA Learning by Design grant. She has also mentored participants in the AIA National Conference K–12 LEGO Project; chaired the AIA New Jersey K–12 Education Committee and the AIA New Jersey State Convention K–12 Design Education Event; co-chaired the AIA ALNNJ High School Girls’ Tower Challenge; and served as a student instructor when the AIA Washington, DC, Architects in Schools program was founded. She also counsels students applying to architecture programs.
In 2006, AIA National recognized Kliesch’s leadership in implementing AIA New Jersey’s 150th Anniversary Sixth Grade Initiative. During Architecture Week, 150 AIA New Jersey architects visited 150 schools statewide to deliver an educational program she developed and taught to participating members. She later shared these best practices at the AIA Leadership Summit and the AIA National Convention.