I am really excited to be serving the Academy as this year’s President. It is only March and there are already many new things underway that will usher in significant benefits for our members. Before I go into that, I want to thank Joan Suchomel, our Past President, who led the Board through the first strategic plan in several years. It kicked off with a member survey, focus groups, and lots of reading, followed by recommendations of four task forces looking at governance, talent, programs, and connections/influence. It was a lot of work, but beginning this year, and continuing for coming years, you will see changes responding to needs expressed by our knowledge community members:
- One thing you said has high value currently is our three conferences (Planning, Design and Construction Summit, Summer Leadership Summit, and Healthcare Design). We partner with other organizations for each of these, but we collaboratively create the educational content for all three. We are expanding our volunteer group to continue to improve these conferences.
- You asked for more knowledge, delivered from the healthcare industry we serve as architects and designers. We have created a new Outreach Committee, developed as a result of the strategic planning efforts last year. The focus for this group is to gather knowledge, trends, and policy changes from industry associations (including the American College of Healthcare Executives, the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, international connections and others). Stay tuned for forthcoming news from our chair this year, Diana Anderson.
- You asked for knowledge to make more accessible. We are expanding our Communications Committee significantly to overhaul our web page, and to create coordinated platforms for delivering knowledge more dynamically, including web, newsletter, and social media.
- You asked for more knowledge to be delivered locally and more affordably than the national conference venues. We are expanding our regional outreach to assist existing local programs and help create new ones by providing access to tools and content.
- Of course, all other programs will continue, and be improved due to expansion of our volunteers to make them more robust. These include case studies, support of research, scholarships, fellowships, design and U-40 awards, webinars, Academy Journal, and codes liaison.
It is an exciting time for the Academy, and I want to invite each of you to think about volunteering to participate in a committee. Any committee member will tell you that you will get more out of it than you put into it, by having an inside track to all the knowledge we deliver. It is also a way to advance in leadership within the Academy. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Tom Clark, FAIA, EDAC
President, Academy of Architecture for Health