SUNY Buffalo planner Kelly Hayes-McAlonie wins the 2025 AIA Award for Excellence in Public Architecture

Kelly Hayes-McAlonie, the current Director of Campus Planning for the State University of New York at Buffalo, has received the 2025 AIA Award for Excellence in Public Architecture. She is credited with founding the AIA’s game-changing Architecture + Education program in 2000, and, more recently, published a biographical sketch on the life of the largely overlooked Louise Blanchard Bethune—who became the first female AIA member in 1888—at the culmination of nearly twenty years of research. She was also cited for her K-12 outreach and other collaborations for public monuments in Western New York.

"Through every project and platform, McAlonie exemplifies the architect as advocate, educator, and changemaker. Her legacy is one of inspiration—bridging communities, advancing justice, and setting new standards for design in the public realm," her AIA citation reads. Hayes-McAlonie received her M.Arch from Canada's Dalhousie University and has been a past National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) board member/Treasurer.