AIA Long Beach South Bay

United in Fellowship

In the early years, advancement to Fellowship in the AIA was basically self-initiated. Members needed only to state their qualifications and have support for their application from other Fellows. When the AIA and WAA merged in 1889, the WAA members were allowed to keep their title of Fellow, and everyone who was a member of the AIA in that year became a Fellow as well. This included Louise Bethune, who was a member of both organizations. She had broken the gender barrier in 1886 as the AIA's first woman member, and she became the first woman Fellow in 1889.

In 1920, membership changed the rules of Fellowship so the process for elevation would be more institutionalized. A jury of Fellows would select candidates from the various AIA chapters. Chapter members would then vote on the selected candidates, and those who won the most votes would go before the full membership. The process was changed in 1935 to give full power for selection to the Jury of Fellows, who would consider résumés of work submitted by the applicants.

Then, in 1952 AIA leadership established the College of Fellows as an entity within the Institute. Its purpose was to "stimulate and express the opinions and advice of honored and experienced members of the Profession." Over time, the mission statement of the College has evolved and now states as its goal to "stimulate a sharing of interests among Fellows, to promote the purpose of the Institute, to advance the profession of architecture, and to be of ever-increasing service to society." With the establishment of the College of Fellows, bestowing fellowship became more formalized, including an investiture ceremony and convocation dinner held at the annual convention of the AIA.