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Home > Featured Stories > Outside the Classroom > December 2008 > Blueprint for LeadershipBlueprint for Leadership
There are some crazy moments, but the reward is really very, very high.
Marvin J. Malecha, dean of NC State's College of Design and First President/President Elect (2008-2009) of The American Institute of Architects
Marvin J. Malecha, FAIA, arrived at the College of Design in 1994.
By David Hunt, News Services
The dean of NC State's College of Design is gaining a new skill these days: adjusting to jet lag.
It's a new occupational hazard for dean Marvin Malecha as he prepares to take the helm of one of the nation's largest professional organizations, the American Institute of Architects (AIA). In anticipation of his installation Dec. 5 as the 85th president of the 150-year-old institute, Malecha has been traveling back and forth between Raleigh and cities around the world, jetting off to meetings, conventions and conferences in North America and Asia, while quickly returning to campus to teach classes and tend to his administrative duties.
"People think I'm crazy to do this, but in the end it means I'm able to maintain my presence in a lecture class, teaching my freshmen, and it means I've been able to stay on top of the administration of the college, and actually do some fund raising and alumni relations," Malecha said. "There are some crazy moments, but the reward is really very, very high."
As president of AIA for 2009, Malecha has the opportunity to lead a professional association whose 83,000 members design buildings valued at $400 billion a year. As the voice of the architecture profession and the primary professional resource for its members, AIA is a powerful organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C. and regional and local offices in all 50 states.
In campaigning for president last year, Malecha proposed a "strategic repositioning" of the organization to make it more streamlined and more responsive to members. The recent economic downturn makes that plan an imperative. One of Malecha's first duties is to develop a budget for 2009 that reduces AIA's expenditures by 12 to 15 percent.
"I proposed the repositioning because I thought if we really made wise use of the resources we had, we could free up money to do better things," he said. "What's happening now is that we're actually strengthening the institute through the repositioning but saving money in order to make our budget cuts at the same time."
In implementing the plan, Malecha is looking for ways to eliminate duplication of effort while focusing on the institute's core mission. In one instance, he discovered that education efforts were being coordinated through five separate committees. In the 2009 budget, he'll propose consolidating the work under one.
"We're basically doing a house cleaning," he explained.
Other strategic goals for the coming year include promoting diversity, sustainability and best practices in project delivery, in addition to the institute's ongoing work in advocacy, professional education, historic preservation, international trade issues, and public outreach.
His students at NC State are pleased with the dean's election to lead AIA.
"The students are excited because they see their school all their time in the press," he said. "They open magazines and there's my name, but my name is quickly followed by the name of the college so they can see that their school is getting recognition. The alumni are extremely proud and excited about this because it puts North Carolina on the map in a way that it wouldn't otherwise be on the map."
In fact, the last time a Carolinian was president of AIA was in 1973, when NC State alumnus Scott Ferebee led the institute. The 87-year-old Ferebee will be on hand for Malecha's inauguration at the National Portrait Gallery Dec. 5 to perform a traditional toast from a past president to the incoming president. Malecha recently came upon an AIA certificate he earned at as a student at the University of Minnesota in 1973. The signature on the certificate is Ferebee's.
"Scott Ferebee is just an incredible role model. I'm very excited about him being there and giving that toast," Malecha said. "It's a nice closing of the circle."
