"My chief want in life is someone who shall make me do what I can."
Ralph Waldo Emerson -- 1803-1882. U.S. poet, essayist, and lecturer.

Passionately and pragmatically, many colleagues and peers have echoed Emerson's statement in their essays on architectural internship. They call for growth-oriented, respectful mentorship - saying it is one of the primary ingredients of successful transition to the professional world.

As many pointed out, true mentorship pushes the next generation of architects towards greatness, elevating them as individuals and strengthening our profession as a whole. Additionally, mentorship rounds, heightens and enriches mentors' lives. Mentors gain perspective, wisdom and pride - traits that represent our field well and prove valuable in any setting.

These are reasons the AIA advocates mentorship and has been doing so for years. In 2004, the AIA added the following language to its Code of Ethics to foster a culture of mentoring among its members while recognizing that mentorship is an individual commitment:

"Members should recognize and fulfill their obligation to nurture fellow professionals as they progress through all stages of their career, beginning with professional education in the academy, progressing through internship and continuing throughout their career."

Additional initiative-accomplishments of recent years have included bringing the IDP Mentor Guidelines under AIA charge, developing best practices for industry mentoring and exposing high school students to architectural opportunities in collaboration with the ACE Mentoring Program. These programs and others will be advanced in 2006.

We are also committed to the establishment of a formalized structure of mentoring and coaching in schools. Respecting that schools are diverse and each makes a unique contribution to the profession, mentoring, coaching and modeling may take many forms. Possibilities include student visits to offices and sites, regular and participatory practitioner visits to schools, virtual mentoring, and summer programs pairing schools and firms.

Mentorship flows through the best, most substantive architectural internships. Therefore, to ensure the health, sustainability and vibrancy of our field, we must invest in mentorship. The AIA seeks to create a framework of mentor opportunities, incentives and rewards and, by doing so, illuminating and energizing the spirit of mentorship that runs throughout our organization.