Keynote - Women in Architecture Series: Emily Grandstaff-Rice and Kimberly Dowdell
Event Description
This is a continuation of our popular Women in Architecture series, conceived in partnership with the RIBA Sri Lanka. The AIA is at a unique inflection point in its evolution in that it’s senior leadership team, comprising staff and elected officials, are female. This presentation features Emily Grandstaff-Rice and Kimberly Dowdell, the President and First Vice President, respectively, of the AIA. They will discuss their personal trajectory through the profession, and they will share their perspective on how the AIA is evolving, and how the AIA can be a force for positive change in its quest for equality, diversity, and inclusion.
CES: Estimated 1 LU for AIA Members
Speakers
Emily Grandstaff-Rice, FAIA, 2023 President, AIA
Kimberly N. Dowdell, AIA, NOMAC, 2023 First Vice President, AIA
Moderator: Lester Korzilius, FAIA, RIBA, Strategic Council Representative, AIA International Past President
Emily Grandstaff-Rice, FAIA, is a senior project manager/senior associate at Perkins&Will. As an architect, her portfolio includes work for a wide range of clients. Her most recent projects focus on K-12 and higher education learning environments; she is drawn to them for their ability to change students’ lives and prepare them for the future.
Emily has demonstrated continued and significant service to AIA, including leading the national equity, diversity, and inclusion conversation and serving as the 2014 president of the Boston Society of Architects/AIA. As a former chair of AIA’s Equity in Architecture Commission, she was instrumental in creating the AIA Guides for Equitable Practice. She will use her national platform to advance equity and climate action and effect widespread positive change in the industry.
Kimberly Dowdell, AIA, NOMAC, is a licensed architect and frequent speaker on the topic of architecture, leadership, diversity, sustainability, and the future of cities. In her 2019-2020 term as national president of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), she worked to increase opportunities for women and people of color to gain more equitable access to the building professions. She also more than doubled the organization’s membership and significantly raised NOMA’s profile.
Kimberly’s career aspirations are rooted in her upbringing in Detroit, where she was initially driven to utilize architecture as a tool to revitalize cities. She earned her Bachelor of Architecture at Cornell University and her Master of Public Administration at Harvard University. Her professional experience has spanned architecture to government and teaching to real estate development. Kimberly is currently a principal in the Chicago studio of HOK, a leading global design firm. She co-founded the SEED Network in 2005 and has been a LEED-accredited professional since 2007. In 2022, Kimberly was elected to the Cornell University Board of Trustees.
Kimberly’s overarching mission is to improve people’s lives, by design.
Moderator: Lester Korzilius is an artist and architect. As a licensed architect in the US and UK he has practised in both countries on projects around the world and now runs his own arts and architecture practice in London. As a former main board director and co-owner of EllisWilliams Architects with offices throughout the United Kingdom and in Germany, Lester was the project director for a range of education projects in the primary, secondary, further education, and special needs sectors. Lester is the immediate past president of AIA International and currently serves on the AIA Strategic Council. In his spare time, he is a Doctoral student in Fine Art (practice-based) at the University of East London.
