AIA understands how valuable Emerging Professionals and their engagement are for profession and to members’ careers.

Emerging Professionals are architecture students, recent graduates, and professionals working towards licensure, and architects licensed ten years or less. Joining the AIA as a young professional offers a variety of networking opportunities, resources for growth and valuable career connections.

Reach out to our EP Liaison Danielle Granger (Danielle@dgparchitects.com) to check out study materials or to join our monthly tours of local creative businesses, firms, and fabricators!

Join the EPs for their monthly Happy Hour, first Thursday of the month! Keep up with EP events on our calendar here.

Next Event:

(5/2) Happy Hour! - Full info and RSVP here.

access free STUDY MATERIALS for:

  • ARE 5.0

  • LEED AP and LEED BD+C

  • And, we still have ARE 4.0 guides, just in case


learn & connect

  • Lunch and Learns provide continuing education or IDP hours through job site visits, workshops, and lectures.

  • Join our monthly tours of local creative businesses, firms, and fabricators.

  • Collaborate with other EPs on community design projects


Membership in the AIA Central Virginia chapter allows you to connect more deeply with our community, form new relationships in the area, and serve the community using your talents and skills. A degree from a NAAB accredited school is not a requirement for Membership in the AIA. Get started!


Recent Meetings:

5.2.24

EP Happy Hour @ Kardinal Hall

Our Emerging Professionals group meet for happy hour, first Thursday of every month. We had a great group this May!

4.19.24

Tour of HeartPine Showroom

Our EPs met up for lunch and a tour of the HeartPine Showroom, last Friday, April 19th. Thank you HeartPine! We look forward to more tours with local businesses and practices within Central VA.

4.12.24

ep + ela happy hour @ Uva hotel a

We had a wonderful Happy Hour joining forces with ELA Virginia Alumni and our Central VA Emerging Professionals at UVA Hotel A on April 12th! Always fun to connect our EPs with ELA.


3.7.24

EP Happy Hour @ Kardinal Hall

2.1.24

EP Happy Hour with new EP liaison, Danielle Granger!

4.20.23

Springpoint Structural / Line and Grade

Outstanding conversation today! AIA CV Emerging Professionals talked with Springpoint Structural and Line and Grade civil engineers, about their work, career paths, starting new firms, and why they built the firm culture they have.

Thanks to Dan Heyer (Line and Grade) and Craig Swift (Springpoint) for covering a wide range of topics, from how to respond to adversity, being comfortable saying “I don’t know”, how to win work (hint: it’s all about relationships), and how they deal with uncertainty and fear. Special thanks to the incredible team of Emerging Professionals they brought from their office to discuss their work and career experience!

3.22.23

Rocktown High School Building Tour

Thank you so much to Grimm + Parker and Scott Eschbach for an enriching tour of Rocktown High School! Scott led our Emerging Professionals through the site and infrastructure, communicating the variety of scales at which both the site and building function in service to the students and broader community of Harrisonburg. 

2.21.23

UVA Building Panel

We had a wonderful Emerging Professionals Panel yesterday hosted by UVA Facilities Management Geospatial Engineering Services. Thank you to UVA and our attendees for a rich discussion!