For over fifty years AWA has supported women in architecture and allied fields realizing their design passion by awarding collegiate scholarships. More than 100 women have received scholarships funded by donations from the local AWA community; including future architects, interior designers, landscape architects, planners and even an engineer, many of whom went on to become leaders within their communities, their professions, and within the AWA organization.
This December 13th, the Association for Women in Architecture Foundation (AWAF) is honored to receive a charity award from the Southern California Development Forum! It was because of an SCDF Charity award in 2014 that the AWAF was able to put into action a long time goal of supporting women who are established in their design careers, and who seek to embark on further research and/or exploration in their profession by offering an AWAF Professional Development Fellowship.
In May 2016, the AWAF awarded the first Professional Development Fellowship to Katherine “Kate” Harvey and Janica Ley Baker who will use the funds over the next year to explore the potential of LAUSD play yards to address the effects of climate and urbanization, and introduce the potential for more diversified learning environments and enhancing public health through recreational green space.
Kate and Janica were part of a master planning effort in 2011-2012 for 27 campuses in the LAUSD school district. They propose to turn this initial exploration into a quest to expand into a regional study of the district’s over 710 square mile coverage to research interventions that address long term effects of urbanization, including impermeability, heat island effects and loss of native species diversity, and seek out an alternate future, aggregated from the micro-scale of the singular public school campus.
The team will present their research at the 2017 AWA+D Symposium in May, which will also feature the AWAF scholarship and fellowship awards. Look for the call for 2017 Professional Development Fellowship applicants in January and for more information on the May Symposium!
And as always, consider donating via the Donate button on AWAF’s page, or even sponsoring a scholarship for 2017 by emailing scholarships@awaplusd.org!
