Diversity Solstice 2016

Introductions:

As we begin a conversation, let's begin with introductions.

1. who has sat at the Diversity Roundtable?

2. who has received a scholarship to study architecture endowed by the Roundtable or Roundtable veterans (Dave Fukui, Sharon Sutton,, Denice Hunt Intern)?

3. who got exposed to the possibilities of architecture via a Roundtable visitor to your K-12 school?

empowering people of diverse backgrounds in the architecture profession since 1986

Beginning in 1986, a group comprising David Fukui AIA, Johnpaul Jones FAIA, Tom Kubota AIA, Marga Rose Hancock Hon. AIA, and Mel Streeter AIA began meeting informally, usually over breakfast at Lowell's in the Market at a round table on the 3rd floor, to ponder the reasons for the under-representation of women and minorities in architecture. By 1990, the group formalized as the AIA Seattle Minority Membership Committee, and grew to include Steve Arai AIA, Nancy Callery AIA, Keli Hagen Parrett Assoc AIA, Henry Hardnett FAIA, Denice Johnson Hunt AIA, Donald King FAIA, Rena Klein FAIA, Teresa Rodriguez AIA, Sharon E. Sutton FAIA, and Jim Suehiro FAIA – among others.

The group, known as the Diversity Roundable, organizes programs of activism, education, and outreach around a commitment to bring diversity into the architecture profession, in a uniquely inclusive manner that continues to draw together and empower women, ethnic/racial minorities, LGBT/Q, people with disabilities, and others of unique background.

Pictured here: 2011 Solstice reunion at the Lowell's roundtable: Mario, David, Marga, Johnpaul, Donald

The efforts of Roundtable members have made a sustained contribution in these areas:

* to AIA Seattle leadership, with several Roundtable alumni/ae among AIA Seattle Presidents: Cynthia Richardson AIA 1994-95 (Anacortes City Councilmember 2001-13), Denice Johnson Hunt AIA 1995-96 (pictured here, the first African-American woman elected to serve as President of an AIA component), Jim Suehiro FAIA 1998-99, Steve Arai AIA 2001-02, Rena Klein FAIA 2002-03, Randy Everett AIA 2005-06, Rico Quirindongo AIA 2013-14, and numerous Board members;

* to scholarship and other support for students at the University of Washington College of Built Environments. Through funds raised at the annual Solstice event, the Roundtable has supported more than 30 UW BE students through the Marga Rose Hancock Diversity Scholarship, the Denice Hunt Internship/Endowed Fund, the Sharon Egretta Sutton Endowed Architecture Fellowship, and the Mitsu & William O. Fukui Memorial Endowed Diversity Scholarship -- all endowed by the Roundtable and Roundtable participants. Rico Quirindongo AIA (pictured here), the first recipient (1994-95) of Roundtable support for his UW studies, joined the Roundtable and later won election to serve as AIA Seattle President 2013-14;

* to bringing youth from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds into the profession through K-12 activism. One example of K-12 outreach: in 1997, Roundtable participants in a program facilitated by "Honorary Mayor Pro Tem" Sharon Sutton FAIA engaged K-12 youth from schools throughout Seattle in a program to develop "Messages from Young Leaders to a New Mayor," culminating in a Town Meeting and a set of recommendations presented to Paul Schell Hon. AIA at the outset of his term as Mayor of Seattle and documented in a 95-page publication (cover at left). More recently, Roundtable participants have worked with students via the ACE Mentor program;

* and to AIA Seattle programming through the Summer Solstice/Juneteenth, an annual program since 1998 celebrating diversity in design and raising funds for Roundtable initiatives including scholarships supporting UW architecture students.