Mark your calendar - this year’s AWA+D Symposium: Shaping Tomorrow is one you don’t want to miss.
This year’s conversations dive into the power of both collective action and personal growth to shape the future—of our communities, our professions, and ourselves. Through inspiring conversations, interactive sessions, and meaningful connections, we’ll explore how each of us can spark change—whether it’s through bold design, fearless leadership, or our own evolution.
With that said, here’s a sneak peek of what to look forward to, a look at past events, and some insight from my own experience at the 2023 Symposium as an AWAF Scholarship winner!
Venue: ASU Center (formerly the Herald Examiner Building)
Address: 1111 S Broadway Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Date: June 28, 2025
Time: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Cost: $80 for Members / $160 for Non-members / $50 for Pre-Professionals
Breakfast and lunch are included! Breakfast will be served at 8:30am before the event begins (in my experience, there’s great food at the Symposium). Here are more details about the upcoming programming, with even more to be announced:
The day’s highlights will include speaker Robin Hughes presenting a Fireside Chat, President & CEO of Housing Partnership Network.
This year’s Insight Exchange offers an opportunity to dive deeper into key topics, share experiences, and gain new perspectives. Break out groups include:
What's Your Power? Claiming your Voice, your Values and your Role in Shaping Change with Erin Light, Founder of Architecture and Advocacy
Engaging in Community Change with Joshua A. Foster, CEO and Founder of JAF Solutions
AI in the Design World with Sona Gevorkyan, Founder of SGAO
Inclusivity without DEI Q+A with Meghana Joshi, Managing Principal at MG2 and Yu-Ngok Lo, Founder of Immigrant Architects Coalition
Be sure to hear from Voices in the Community! These short, impactful talks highlight diverse experiences and ideas from within our design community, led by:
Stephanie Landregan, MsPM, FASLA, Director of Landscape Architecture Program and Horticulture & Gardening Program at UCLA Extension, and
Karin Najarian, Assoc. AIA, LEED Green Assoc., AWA+D Membership Director & Lead Designer at Casa Nova
A LOOK BACK AT THE 2024 AWA+D Symposium
Here’s a peek at last year’s event, Advancing Together through Partnerships:
early career insight + opportunity
Posin’ with my AWAF Scholarship Award in 2023
In June 2023, I was honored to receive the AWAF Peggy Bowman Scholarship at the Symposium. Coming off of the excitement of graduation just a few weeks prior, I felt like a brand new participant in the world of architecture, and a bit dazed. No one tells you that the first few months after graduation can be exciting, but daunting, faced with new opportunities, routines, and expectations. The conversations I had at my first Symposium helped reaffirm my commitment and passion for this field, and reminded me that I have the support of an incredible breadth of experience from fellow AWA+D members. At the 2023 Symposium, I sat at a table with firm leadership, educators, landscape architects, second-year architecture students, and urban planners - and it felt like we all had something to share with one another.
There were many familiar faces from Cal Poly Pomona, including instructors Sona Gevorkyan and Richard Molina, who encouraged bold design and experimentation as my instructor for my second-year Digital Design course. If you’ve read my previous blog post, you might guess that I am especially intrigued by Sona’s upcoming Insight Exchange on “AI in the Design World,” a topic that’s more relevant than ever. This year’s Symposium also dedicates discussion to AWA+D’s vision for the future through key initiatives and expanding impact of student chapters. This session spotlights leadership perspectives and opportunities to get involved, and is presented by Janvi Kanani, AWA+D President, Ashley Morales Diaz, AWA+D Vice President / President-Elect, and Meg Coffee, AWA+D Past President / Parliamentarian. Ashley has been a key player in planning this year’s Symposium, but I know Ashley better as my former Teaching Assistant for my Architectural History courses, where she had an impact on my passion for writing and encouraged all of her students to be better presenters, researchers, and critical thinkers.
As an aspiring architect with a new home in Denver, I cherish events like the Symposium that bring these participants together, including those familiar faces who had an impact on my early career growth and interests. This annual event gives a dedicated space to have conversations that are critical to the contemporary state of architecture and design, with participants in all stages of their career. I am so excited to see how AWA+D is increasing engagement with early career members through student chapters and events like the Symposium and bi-weekly Study Accountability Group (which I should be using more often).
As a final endorsement, this year’s Symposium is held at the ASU California Center, which may be better known in its former life as the Herald Examiner Building designed by Julia Morgan. As the first licensed female architect in California, Morgan’s iconic design serves as the perfect setting for this year’s event, a space that inspires conversation and insight. Morgan’s touch and Beaux-Arts education is present throughout the space, and if you’ve had the privilege of visiting Hearst Castle you’ll recognize the distinct stylistic flair that blossomed from the partnership between Julia Morgan and William Randolph Hearst.
Come curious, leave empowered. Let’s shape tomorrow—together.
Register here.
Aryana Leland is a designer based in Denver, Colorado. She studied Architecture + Art History at Cal Poly Pomona and is originally from San Clemente, California.