About AIGA student groups
AIGA encourages the formation of student groups at colleges and
universities and is committed to developing these groups as a way
of encouraging students to take the first step in demonstrating a
commitment to their professional interest and assisting them in
understanding the profession. The goal of the student groups is to
get the student involved in the local design community, create a
community of their own and help them build leadership skills that
will be valuable as they move into the professional world.
Requirements for AIGA student groups
These requirements reflect our experience of the past several
years of what makes a successful group. Adhering to them will help
ensure that the group runs smoothly and enables students to get the
most out of their AIGA membership.
- Each student group must have a faculty adviser, who must sign a
formal agreement
in order to activate the group. The faculty adviser is the liaison
between the students and AIGA and is responsible for the formation
and maintenance of the student group. In return for the extra work
required of the faculty adviser to run a successful group, AIGA
provides the adviser with a complimentary professional-level
membership for taking on the responsibility of starting and running
the student group.
- Each group must have at least 10 students with active AIGA
memberships at all times.
- The faculty adviser must sign and return the student group
agreement to start or continue a group. Signed agreements are due
once a year to renew.
- The faculty adviser is required to maintain a roster of who is
in the group; a current listing of the students affiliated with the
group may be viewed by logging into the adviser’s AIGA profile at
my.aiga.org.
- The faculty adviser must encourage students to keep their
contact information updated (e.g., change of address, email,
graduation date, major) by logging in to their own profiles at
my.aiga.org.
- The faculty adviser is required to submit a year-end report
outlining the group's activities throughout the year. The reports
are due by July 1.
- The faculty adviser assumes accountability for programming
funds collected and spent.
Resources for students and faculty advisers
Student groups have several resources at their disposal to help
them run meetings, create programming and locate resources.
Relationship between AIGA chapters and student groups
A student group at a university automatically becomes affiliated with the
chapter nearest to it. The faculty adviser should be recognized as an asset of
the chapter, assisting in involving the students in AIGA and in
programming for their own interests, in distributing materials and
in keeping student records (particularly addresses) current. The
student advisers within a chapter should work together to combine
assets and create programming that will involve more students and
build a strong community.
AIGA feels strongly that student groups should, as much as
possible, be involved in programming their own events. This
activity provides an opportunity for training future chapter
officers and instills a sense of responsibility towards the
organization. Chapters receive a $20 per student dues
reimbursement. We encourage the chapter to develop a mechanism for
granting each student group a portion or all of those funds for
programming activities on campus.
Renewing student groups
A new agreement must be signed and returned to AIGA each year,
to confirm that the student group will continue, and to renew the
faculty adviser's complimentary membership. Failure to return a
signed agreement will cause the student group to be
deactivated.
Number of student groups per campus
AIGA will recognize one (and only one) faculty adviser per
campus. Full-time faculty members are encouraged to take advantage
of the special AIGA educator rate. See full-time faculty membership for more information.