Get an inside look at licensure, regulation, and the initiatives shaping the future of architectural practice. The NCARB Podcast, hosted by Andy McIntyre, Vice President at NCARB, brings together architects, educators, regulators, researchers, and industry leaders to unpack the systems behind licensure—and how those systems are evolving to better serve candidates, the profession, and the public.

Season 1 explores Pathways to Practice, NCARB’s multi-year initiative to reimagine the path to architectural licensure. Across the season, Andy and his guests examine how licensure evolved, where today’s process creates barriers, and how a more flexible, competency-based model could expand access while maintaining the rigor needed to protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare.

Before we can understand where licensure is going, we need to understand how it got here. In this opening episode, Andy introduces NCARB’s Pathways to Practice initiative and explores the history of architectural licensure in the United States.

Andy first speaks with Ed Marley, NCARB’s FY26 President, about why NCARB is reimagining licensure and what a more flexible, competency-based future could look like. Then, Amanda Pica, NCARB’s Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Communications, joins the conversation to trace the origins of architectural regulation—from early building failures and public safety concerns to the formation of NCARB and the evolution of education, experience, and examination.

Find out more about Pathways to Practice.