Join us on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, from 6:00–8:00 PM at Dafina, Somerville for the AIA CNJ Board Installation Dinner.

Celebrate the incoming board members and enjoy an evening of networking, fine dining, and a presentation by Gabrielle Esperdy, Dean of NJIT’s Hillier College of Architecture & Design.

“What Keeps Me Up at Night: Architecture at a Moment of Disruption” 

Architecture is undergoing a period of transformation. Recent regulatory developments have raised questions about how the profession is formally recognized and classified. At the same time, artificial intelligence is increasingly integrated into practice, influencing design, analysis, and decision-making processes. These intersecting changes affect authorship, professional judgment, and the standards by which architectural work is evaluated. This session provides an overview of the current state of the profession, highlighting the implications of technological and regulatory shifts for practicing and emerging architects.

1 LU Submitted

Guest Speaker

Gabrielle Esperdy, Ph.D.
Dean, Hillier College of Architecture & Design, NJIT | Professor

Gabrielle Esperdy is an architectural and urban historian and cultural critic, focusing on the intersections of architecture, consumerism, and modernism in the United States. She is Professor of Architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where she has taught since 2001, and serves as Dean of NJIT’s Hillier College of Architecture & Design.

Her research examines how social, economic, and cultural forces shape the built environment, with particular interest in everyday or overlooked buildings. She is the author of Modernizing Main Street: Architecture and Consumer Culture in the New Deal and American Autopia, and her ongoing American Road Trip project critically analyzes ordinary and non-heroic American architecture.

Esperdy is Editor of SAH Archipedia, the Society of Architectural Historians’ authoritative encyclopedia of the built environment, and Editor in Chief of the Buildings of the United States multi-volume series. She has published widely in journals including the Journal of Architectural Education, Perspecta, and Buildings & Landscapes, and is a columnist for Places.

2026 Slate of Officers 

Past President: Tania Althoff, AIA

Trustees:

Donna Terzano, AIA
Elina Shchervinsky, AIA
George Sincox, AIA
Jason Kliwinski, AIA
Joshua Zinder, AIA
Keith Chambers, AIA
LoriAnne Jones, AIA
Mugdha Chawathe, AIA
Erin Sharp-Newton, Assoc. AIA