Vol. 19, Issue 02 2021
Emerging professionals as a priority Prioritizing emerging professionals’ experience as a key part of workforce development
Kate Thuesen, AIA Thuesen, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, has focused her career on designing diverse educational environments. While practicing architecture and design for higher education spaces, she saw a need for and created a national college recruiting and internship program at DLR Group and now oversees the firm’s Emerging Professional Experience Program. She sees tremendous value in service to the profession and taught Professional Practice at Iowa State University and serves on the Alumni Advisory Committee for the ISU Department of Architecture. She volunteered as the AIA Central States Young Architects Forum Regional Director from 2017 to 2020, which provided her opportunities to engage with Emerging Professionals across local, regional, and national arenas. Her role as YARD included a leadership role on the CSR Emerging Professionals Committee, where she oversaw and grew the EP Friendly Firm Award for the region and developed a national toolkit for the award program. Early in her career, Thuesen lived and worked for almost three years in Europe, where she deepened her appreciation for international architecture and design, as well as insight into the importance of embracing diversity and learning to support personal and professional success. Her passion centers on connecting people and elevating the human experience, whether through architecture, teaching, writing, recruiting, travel, service, design, or mentoring. DLR Group is continuing its commitment to the next generation of AEC leaders through hiring, mentoring, and investing in interns and new graduates. This year, we have reintroduced the Summer Internship Experience Program to be the Emerging Professional Experience (EPX) Program. All interns will participate in the program, and recent graduates who are full-time employee-owners are also encouraged to participate. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) defines an Emerging Professional (EP) as “students, interns, and young professionals licensed for less than 10 years.” DLR Group uses the term EPs to reference the interns and new graduates who have recently joined the firm. EPs have daily work responsibilities that may not provide opportunities to see or participate in other parts of the design process, disciplines, or business units within the firm. The EPX Foundations program is hosted for 10 weeks over the summer and includes weekly guest lecturers and recommended activities to encourage learning and professional growth.
Amaya Labrador: Basics first, Tell us a little bit about the origins of this program and your position. Kate Thuesen: At its deepest level, this work is born out of my hope to help others have a better experience than I did when I first started out in the profession. Due to many factors (some of them from my own lack of perspective, others from the environment I was in), I didn’t feel supported to discover my own design voice and find my place in the profession. I’ve worked hard, failed, grown, and discovered a lot as I’ve worked my way to where I am now. I’m a licensed architect and have practiced primarily in educational environments for most of my career. I’ve also had many unique roles at DLR Group due to personal, professional, and business needs, and overseeing the EPX Program is my current role. Being part of design teams that were creating innovative learning spaces and working with students was something I found personally satisfying. I started attending career fairs to help in the hiring and mentoring process, and I also sought deeper connections on campuses through teaching, mentorship, and service. The firm’s leadership saw a need for more investment in the next generation of AEC professionals and asked me to focus on working with EPs.
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