Kimberly Dowdell looks down at her iPhone, which blasts red app badges and notifications from a cluttered screen. She has thousands of messages, e-mails, and calls that beg her attention, but she merely smiles at them and closes her phone case. The 36-year-old architect and director is used to it by now.
“We really need to create greater pathways into the profession and greater access to our K through 12 students, our college and graduate students, our licensure candidates, [and] support them through that process,” she says.
“Creating access to the profession for people who are generally less positioned to enter the profession makes it better for everyone,” she says, referencing her own career.
“We’re excited about the growth and the energy people have about increasing diversity,” Dowdell says. “Literally our student population looks like the United Nations. It’s really refreshing that these young people from all over the country, even the world, are all-in for NOMA.’” v
