Blueprint for Success: A WAF Scholarship Recipient Story

Stacey Zwettler Keller’s Journey from Academic Excellence to AIA Leadership

Stacey is a licensed architect and Senior Historic Architect at Insight Consulting Architects in Madison, Wisconsin.  Insight Consulting specializes in historic preservation, adaptive reuse, forensic analysis of moisture-related building failures, building enclosure technologies, institutional facilities management, remedial design, and construction/contract management. They have performed a wide variety of forensic services on thousands of structures around North America for clients with nearly every possible building type.

Stacey received her Bachelors in Science and Architectural Studies and her Masters of Architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. There she also received certificates in Historic Preservation, Real Estate Development, and Urban Planning. Stacey is the incoming AIA Wisconsin Board Secretary/Treasurer for 2024 and is a co-founder of the Architect Mentor Program (AMP).

Read on to discover Stacey’s invaluable insights from her academic, professional, and AIA journeys within the architectural community.

AIA/WAF: Tell us about your background and why you wanted to be an architect?

SK: Hello, my name is Stacey Zwettler Keller. I grew up in Monona, WI, just outside of Madison and I currently live outside of Madison in Windsor, WI.

I wanted to be an architect, probably since the 7th grade, which I know is a little kooky, but before that I thought I wanted to be a teacher like my mom. I realized working with kids is really difficult and just needed to figure something else out. So, I started looking into other professions and discovered architecture. I have a cousin that’s also an architect, so I did a lot of research on the profession and decided that that was a good fit for me because I really enjoyed the kind of meshing of math and art together.

AIA/WAF: Tell us what year you received your WAF scholarship, what school you attended, and what led you to apply for the scholarship?

SK: I received the Wisconsin Architects Foundation scholarship for the [2004-2005] school year; I was attending UW-Milwaukee at the time for my Master’s degree. When I applied for this scholarship, I was paying for all of my Master’s by myself and needed some assistance to get all the supplies, books and other things that weren’t necessarily directly covered by my financial aid at the time. It wasn’t a huge amount, but it was the first scholarship that I received in the architectural community, it just really helped reinforce that I was on the right path.

AIA/WAF: How did your scholarship aid in your educational and career goals? Can you share a particular moment or experience related to the scholarship that stands out in your memory?

SK: It was the first architectural scholarship that I had been awarded and I think it really helped bolster my confidence in pursuing other architectural pursuits.  It was also the first opportunity for me to attend the Wisconsin Annual Conference on Architecture and I met all these amazing architects. I think Cherie Claussen, AIA, was the president at the time, she was presenting, and it really gave me some new idols, things to look up to, and new pursuits in the profession.

Also, receiving the award amidst all of my peers in the architecture school was really rewarding. My professors were there to acknowledge the good work that I had been doing as well as fellow students.

AIA/WAF: What are some significant moments from your career in architecture that you are most proud of?

SK: There have been a lot of things that I’ve worked on over the years. Some of the things I’m really proud started when I was an associate member with AIA Central States Region for Emerging Professionals and when I was a regional associate director for AIA North Central Stations Region for the Young Architects Forum where I was able to work on some workplace culture ideas, developing IDP best practices and how to support interns. Once I got to Wisconsin, there were some things that I wanted to improve, and I had some new exposure with my national experience.  I knew that it was important to be prepared in advance of disasters, so when the [2018] floods hit Madison area, we were ready. We had a plan and procedures in place, and we were able to help the Wisconsin Emergency Management secure over $53,000,000 in FEMA funding. So that was quite an exciting time.

I also got to develop the Architect Mentor Program (AMP) with Henry Kosarzycki, AIA. The program is meant to help students to pursue and expand their architectural business acumen and learn how to be better leaders in their companies, the profession, and their communities. It’s very exciting that we have been able to build such a successful program that way.

2020 was an extremely successful year, I had submitted for some different awards and that was the year I won the [AIA] Wisconsin Young Architect Award. I was also awarded the AIA National Young Architect Award, which was very fulfilling and exciting to be a part of that group. On top of that, UWM recognized me for all of the hard work through their Community Service Award and then the Business Forum here in Madison recognized me with the Athena Award for successful women in business, so it was quite the year.

AIA/WAF: The 70 for 70 Campaign’s goal is to raise $70,000 to provide grants to emerging professionals pursuing licensure to help pay for ever increasing student loan debts, licensing exams, and registrations. So how would this grant have helped you as an emerging professional in the architecture field?

SK: I’m excited about this 70 for 70 program from Wisconsin Architects Foundation. I think it’s going to provide a lot of opportunities that maybe weren’t available when I was there. Certainly, the cost of going through your licensure is really expensive and finding that time off of work to go is really important.  I think it also helps a lot of those ideas for students to keep going. Again, it gives us some confidence building if you’re going to be awarded some of these grants and when you’re having that slump of, I can’t go on because things are really hectic and busy, it will provide an inspiration to students to keep going and stay with this profession.

AIA/WAF: What was your licensure experience like and how long did it take?

SK: So, my licensure process was a little circuitous. When I got out of my undergraduate degree, I wanted to make sure that this was a profession I really wanted to be in. I liked it in school but wasn’t sure if profession was going to be the same, so I took a few years off and worked at some different firms to make sure it was what I wanted to do. During that three-year period, I was able to acquire all of my experience hours. It was pretty well streamlined because I worked for some great firms that supported me in getting all of the different requirements fit. However, then I went back to grad school and took a little break to figure out what I really liked and didn’t like about architecture and that’s where I landed in historic preservation. I really took some time to explore what I was really interested in and that took me on a path of moving to a different state. I got married in the same year and I started taking on some different AIA roles, which had me traveling across the nation.

Starting exams was a little bit of a hurdle to get over, but I had done some different study groups and so it took me another few years to get through all of the different exams, which was 9 at the time. It was also a transition period from 3.1 to 4.0 and so there were different pressures associated with that. All in all, from my undergraduate degree to getting licensed it took me 10 years.

“I think what’s really interesting about architecture is that no one has the same path, so you shouldn’t gauge yourself against others. I know when you come out of school, you get this linear thinking of I’m going to do this then I do that and then I’m going to be a successful architect. But that looks so different for other people. So, I would advise students just to enjoy the path and the experiences and find out what’s a good fit for you.”

AIA/WAF: How much support did your firm give you?

SK: I was very fortunate at the time to receive a lot of support from the firm while I was going through the actual testing process.  They would pay for one test at a time, some of them I did have to retake, so that was on my own. They also supported me to take time off to take those exams because they were all during the week.

The studying time and all of that was on my own, and that was strenuous. But the good news is that I took my last test at seven months pregnant and passed it and got my license before my first baby showed up, so it was all good timing. I got licensed in 2010.

AIA/WAF: What do you see as the greatest need or threat to students and emerging professionals and how can WAF support that initiative?

SK: I think there’s a few things going on with the profession of architecture that have become a threat to students and architects. First, it’s workplace culture, doing things the old way aren’t necessarily standards of care that we want to place upon our professionals coming right out of school. I think working through flexible schedules and providing lots of support.

Mentorship is the next hurdle. We’re doing projects faster than we’ve ever done projects, we are running out of time and using technology that our mentors did not have. So, we’re all learning on the fly to do things in new ways, and we really need to work on those communication processes so everybody’s on the level playing field and able to give support to interns as we go through that.

The other thing affecting young architects as they move through the business process is that business acumen piece. There was maybe only one class in the architectural education process that talks about this. So, understanding how to run the business, how to get work, how the finances work, how to become a leader in your firms. That is one reason I started the AMP program, to help elevate Young Architects who are moving to that next phase of their career and in firm management.

AIA/WAF: Can you talk about why it’s important to give back to WAF?

SK: You know, the largest reason that I support WAF is because they supported me, and I try to encourage a lot of others to also then support WAF. I think it’s really a good network of people that provide assistance to initiatives as well as scholars and students. It really assists the state’s architectural future.

AIA Southeast initiated some of the diversity scholarships and I think that then transferred into Wisconsin Architects Foundation when the whole mergers of the sections came. I think that’s really critical to our profession. We know that the statistics [i.e. diversity in architecture] are not good and that there needs to be some improvement and I think that’s a real place for WAF to assist and provide different funding.

AIA/WAF: Why are you a member of AIA Wisconsin and what value do you derive from our organization?

SK: AIA Wisconsin is very important to me. I think the best part about AIA Wisconsin is it enhances my professional experience. When I was a younger professional and maybe not always the leader in my firm at the time, it certainly helped build my leadership skills to be in different positions for AIA.

“I think the networking piece is really important because it expands my view of architecture. If I only had one firm’s view of architecture, I might not have as broad an understanding or try to create a little bit of disruption in this profession and make some change for the better. It’s with all those different perspectives and ideas coming my way that have helped really enhance my career.”

AIA/WAF: What initiatives are you involved in right now to promote the profession of architecture within AIA Wisconsin or otherwise?

SK: I’ve been very fortunate to serve in a lot of different types of positions and roles in the AIA nationally, regionally, at the state level and locally. I’ve served as past president for AIA Southwest Wisconsin and in my Kansas days, I was President for AIA Topeka.

It’s been my engagement at the emerging professional level as a Young Architect, Regional Director, and Associate Regional Director that I really got engaged in some of these workplace culture discussions on how to make the profession better, more diverse, and provide more opportunities to emerging professionals that maybe hadn’t been there in the past.

I’ve also served at a national level, where I was the Chair for the Center for Practice, bringing the firm perspective to the AIA National organization.  I was able to provide input on some of the different initiatives and programs- if they were fitting the right mark, was it supporting firms and profitability, and again some of those workplace culture things. I was also really fortunate to lead their strategic plan for the next five years.

The next position I’m holding is for the 2024 AIA Wisconsin Board Secretary/ Treasurer. I’m really excited that I get to be on the path of state leadership for the AIA Wisconsin Board. It’s exciting that I get to follow in Cherie’s footsteps, who was a past mentor of mine, a past boss of mine, and that first idol I saw at the front of the stage for a Wisconsin convention.

AIA/WAF: What advice would you give to future students and emerging professionals looking to enter the field of architecture and enhance their career?

SK:  First, I would tell you to always step outside your box and not always stay in your comfort zone. The profession of architecture is really large and expansive and there are so many different ways you can pursue a really successful career. So, one person’s view of this profession isn’t always right for the next person. Explore all those different options that make it exciting for you, that make your profession the right fit for you.

The other thing I’d say is just get involved and meet new people. I think you won’t find out what those other opportunities in this profession are if you aren’t talking to others and that will present different opportunities for you to take advantage of and really enhance your career.

AIA/WAF: Why do you think it’s important to get involved with AIA Wisconsin and WAF?

SK: I think it’s really important to get involved in AIA Wisconsin and WAF because it provides you that opportunity to meet new people. It provides you an opportunity to expand your ideas of what architecture is, or should be, or could be. It’s going to help you find a more fulfilling career because it’s more multifaceted than just one thing.

I think this profession isn’t always easy and I think you need that assistance and working with other people to keep you going and finding those right mentors. If you don’t have a good mentor at one point, then you need to find another mentor, it’s this expansive group of people that makes a successful career.

I think for the future of this profession to continue its success pattern, as we’ve inspired a lot of people and students and young professionals along the way, we need to keep that forward future thinking and making sure it’s a diverse path and expanding.

“When you know better, you do better.”

AIA/WAF: What is next for your career?

SK: What’s next for my career is, of course, an unknown. I told you I took a circuitous path to licensure, and I feel like my career has also followed this circuitous path. I think it’s interesting that if you had told me what my career would be coming straight out of school, this is not what it would have looked like.

“I think what’s exciting about architecture and all the different ideas and expansiveness is that your career can go many ways and you can still be a leader and still have a really successful career.”

What’s next? I know for me personally in my career is that I’m pursuing new architecture types. I’m building my historic preservation practice and I’m always working through how to build a better business and that’s the stage of career that I’m in now.

But then there’s my AIA career as well, besides just my professional work. Right now, I know that my next step is to become the Secretary/Treasurer for the State Board and learn more about what’s happening at that level. I know that I will still be integrated in all the different facets of local and national service as well, and it’s exciting to have that resource of a national network of other architects to talk to and figure out what’s next for me.