In early 2018, in anticipation of the NAAB Accreditation Review Forum of 2019, President Carl Elefante requested that the Strategic Council research the future of architectural education. As such, the Transforming Architectural Education (TAE) working group was convened to conduct research that the AIA representatives could use as a resource when working with the NAAB-assembled collaborators. Kelly served as the co-chair of the working group.

TAE focused our research to answer four questions:

• What is architectural education?

• What skills will architects need in future decades?

• Who will architects be in the future (2040)?

• What is the pivot point when architectural education will need to dramatically be changed to address the new skill requirements?

The committee held workshops around the country to inform their work:

1. A’18

2. A’19

3. Central States Region

4. Ohio Valley Region - Ohio

5. Ohio Valley Region - Kentucky

6. New York

7. Texas

The working group generated a comprehensive report which the AIA Board of Directors used in this work on ARF’19 with the NAAB. The working group also reviewed the NAAB generated draft documents on bahlf of AIA. Th is work and the recommendations of the working group led to the AIA Board’s decision to fund an Boyer Report on transforming architectural education, which is in development now.

As a result of the success of this research and report, Kelly was nominated by President Jane Frederick to represent the AIA on the NAAB 2020-2023. She was elected to serve as Treasurer for 2022 and also sits on the NCARB Licensing Advisory Forum for 2022.