Art News

Benjamin Vargas, FAIA, Selected as 2010 Recipient of the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award

WASHINGTON, DC.- The American Institute of Architects (AIA) have selected Benjamin Vargas, FAIA, as the 2010 recipient of the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award, given to an architect or architecturally oriented organization exemplifying the profession’s responsibility toward current social issues. Vargas, whose efforts to instill the value of diversity and inclusiveness into the AIA at a national, Institute-wide level, will be presented with the award at the 2010 AIA national convention in Miami. The award honors civil rights leader Whitney M. Young Jr., proponent of social change and head of the Urban League from 1961 until his death in 1971. At the 1968 AIA Annual Convention, Young challenged architects to more actively increase participation in the profession by minorities and women. A native of Puerto Rico, Vargas established a presence within the AIA as a tireless advocate for institutional change to survey and remedy the lack o