Photo Credit: Mark Bealer

Location

Miami University Center for Community Engagement in Over-the-Rhine

Cost

Free

Program Overview

Fellowship is the highest membership honor awarded by the American Institute of Architects. AIA Cincinnati members Robert Busch, Michael Schuster, and John Senhauser were each elevated for Fellowship under Object 1: To promote the aesthetic, scientific, and practical efficiency of the profession Fellowship in this object is granted to architects who have produced extensive bodies of distinguished work that has been broadly recognized for its design excellence through design, urban design, or preservation. At our annual fall chapter gathering, join us for a lively conversation about their careers and the evolution of design, moderated by Drew Ousley, Associate AIA.

At this gathering we’ll also hold elections for the 2026 Board of Directors. See schedule below.

Registration is not required but is appreciated by October 24 so we can ensure enough refreshments are available.

Schedule

5:30pm - arrive and get some refreshments

5:50pm - chapter elections

6-7pm - Fellows panel

7-7:30pm - grab some more refreshments and connect with colleagues

Slate of Candidates for the 2025 AIA Cincinnati Board of Directors

• President Elect/Vice-President – Monica Lowry, AIA, Burgess & Niple for a 1 year term [2026] followed by serving as President for 1 year [2027] then Past President for 1 year [2028]. 

• Secretary – Jake Thamann, AIA, KZF Design [1 year term] 

• Treasurer –  Amber Wasinski, AIA, MSA Design [1 year term]  

• AIA Ohio Representative – Karen Planet, AIA, ESM|RWA Architects [3 year term] 

• AIA Ohio Alternate Representative -  Allison McKenzie, AIA, SHP [3 year term]  

• Director - Ximena Mellado Cuevas, AIA, Moody Nolan [3 year term ending December 31, 2028] 

• Director - Joshua Harper, AIA, BHDP Architecture, [3 year term ending December 31, 2028] 

• Director - Timothy Nolan, AIA, emersion DESIGN, [3 year term ending December 31, 2028] 

• Director - Sheri Scott, AIA, Springhouse Architects, [3 year term ending December 31, 2028] 

• Director - Tyler Zembrodt, AIA, [3 year term ending December 31, 2028]

Continuing Directors and Officers

• President – Rob Busch, FAIA, drawing dept

• Past-President – Paul Shirley, AIA, Pelican Design Studio

• Director – Christopher Hernandez, AIA, Jacobs

• Director – Drew Ousley, Associate AIA, Associate Director, ESM|RWA Architects

Speakers

Robert Busch, FAIA, LEED AP

Robert Busch is the founding partner of Drawing Dept, an architecture and design firm in Cincinnati, Ohio committed to client-centric, collaborative design solutions. Since its founding in 2005, Drawing Dept has won over 100 design awards for a wide variety of project types with a concentration in hospitality and single-family residential.

Rob’s career has been built on the conviction that design has the responsibility to challenge, evoke, and enlighten. Rob’s work is simultaneously bold, yet quiet and approachable. Highly distilled, it is defined by its legibility and crafted detailing. Unlike overtly formal solutions, Rob’s work reveals itself by unburdening and disinhibiting the user. It is willingly recessive, but rewards attention.

Rob currently serves as Vice President/President Elect  for AIA Cincinnati after serving as Secretary and Director. He is a frequent critic at the School of Architecture and Interior Design at the University of Cincinnati, where he has also worked as an adjunct professor. He is

also a marathoner and breakfast cereal enthusiast – oh, and father of 4.

Michael Schuster, FAIA, LEED AP

Michael Schuster, FAIA LEED AP is founder and principal of MSA Design, a regional design firm offering award-winning services in architecture, interior design, and graphics. Mr. Schuster received his bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Cincinnati School of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP). He became a registered architect in 1982 and is NCARB certified in over 30 states. Mr. Schuster founded MSA Architects in 1985 with the intention of creating a professional firm focusing on developing strong design solutions with the idea that all design should be meaningful and intentional. MSA has grown from a single practitioner to a firm of over 75 employees operating from offices in Cincinnati and Columbus.

Mike is an adjunct Design Professor at the University of Cincinnati, lecturer, and contributor with the emphasis of ethical and inclusive humanistic design. At MSA Design, he is the director of strategic design initiatives, with a focus on the concept of advanced levels of technical design and fabrication, meaningful design, and the goal of enriching the lives of all users of the spaces and places that are realized.  MSA Design has been the recipient of over 100 design awards on the Local, State, and National levels.

He was elected to the National College of Fellows in Design in 2008 and has been honored with the Ohio AIA Gold Medal, as well as having MSA Design being named an AIA Ohio Gold Medal Design Firm. He strongly advocates that,  “……thoughtful design is not an option, it is a necessity to respect and honor the world resources we have been given”.

Mike has been active in the local and state AIA Chapters being president of both as well as the Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati.  He has served on many local community and educational Institution Boards.  He loves his family, sports, and fitness.  He was a baseball coach for over 25 years for summer, select, and national travel baseball.  His love of sports and especially baseball was the catalyst for Cincinnati Riverfront advocacy for the development of a ballpark on the riverfront, which also served as experience that helped create MSA Sport, the 12th largest sports design firms in the country.

John Senhauser, FAIA

John C. Senhauser, FAIA, founder of John Senhauser Architects, was born in New Philadelphia, Ohio. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1971 from University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning and started his own practice in 1979. During 40 years of practice, both architects and builders have chosen to honor John Senhauser Architects with more than 80 design awards including the 1999 AIA Ohio Gold Medal Firm Award. John was named a Fellow of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1995 and received the 2009 AIA Ohio Gold Medal.

Linking practice with education, professional, and community service, John is a former Adjunct Associate Professor of Design at the University of Cincinnati. He has served as President of both AIA Ohio and AIA Cincinnati, Regional Director for the Ohio Valley Region, and Institute Secretary for the National AIA.

John served as the Director of the National Architectural Accreditation Board (NAAB) from 2007 to 2010. He is a former Chair of the City of Cincinnati’s Historic Conservation Board and Ohio’s Residential Construction Advisory Committee. John is currently a member of the City’s Urban Design Review Board and the University of Cincinnati’s Design Review Committee.

Moderator

Drew Ousley, Associate AIA, LEED Green Assoc., Certified Remote Pilot 

Drew was born and raised in Northern Kentucky and currently lives there with his family. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of Kentucky and his Master of Architecture from the University of Cincinnati. Drew began working at RWA in 2023 upon graduation. He is currently a LEED Green Associate, a licensed drone pilot, and is working toward his licensure in architecture. Outside of work he greatly enjoys spending time with his lovely wife and son. He loves sharing meals, conversation, music, and walks with his family. His passion for his home life is the source of his love for residential design and inspires the spaces he creates for clients.

Drew is the Associate Director on the AIA Cincinnati Board of Directors and active with the Early Professionals Working Group and CRAN (Custom Residential Architects Network).