President’s Message – Be Heard !

November 5, 2014

Kurt Kalafsky, AIA

2014 has been an exciting year for AIA New Jersey and our work is not done yet. In June the national delegation voted to move forward with the National repositioning effort. Many of the changes will be transparent to the average AIA member as they should be. Others will hopefully be more noticeable making our organization proactive on the national and regional stage putting the architect in the spotlight as a leader in our communities and giving more relevance to our profession. But this can’t just happen without our help. We all need to get involved and make architects noticed. Whether it is in your religious institutions, community organizations, your local AIA section or the state chapter, we all have a great deal of valuable experience to offer in support and leadership. I encourage all of our members to get out and make a difference in any way you can,

I have had the opportunity to visit with all of the sections at their monthly meetings and continuing education events. Each visit has been encouraging and uplifting to see so many new faces getting involved to help advance our profession. The next generation is our future and we need to continue to encourage and support them as they take on more leadership positions in the AIA.

Just as AIA National did, we are taking a close look at how we are operating at the state level. We have asked ourselves some hard questions. What do we do well? What do we not do well? What should we start doing? What should we stop doing? What should we continue doing? We still have a great deal of soul searching to do. Without constant self-evaluation we will quickly loose relevance.

On the legislative front, we finally got the Good Samaritan legislation passed so the Architects can volunteer their services in their local communities without the fear of litigation. Keep your eyes open for upcoming training sessions to see how you can help when the next disaster strikes. I was my honor to personally than the bill’s sponsors in the house and senate as well as the Governor on the behalf of our 1900+ members.

Speak up, be heard, after all, we are Architects!

Kurt M Kalafsky AIA

By admin | Posted in AIA-NJ News, NJ Architect Newsletter | Tagged: AIA Repositioning, Good Samaritan, Kurt Kalafsky, Presidents Message | Comments (0)