Graduate Landscape Architecture student, Haley Powell, is spending her summer getting some valuable experience as an intern at The Broussard Group (TBG) in Dallas. At TBG, she is completing a multitude of tasks including drafting in CAD (computer aided design), designing paving patterns, developing sheet sets for a submittal, and many other things to help a client understand the concepts of a design.
“It is a great situation to learn about design throughout the life of a project and really see the depth of work that goes into seeing a project come into existence.”
— Haley Powell
During her internship, she has gained valuable technical skills, but more importantly, she has learned ‘soft skills,’ she explained. Soft skills she has learned include learning how to operate in a professional landscape architecture environment, what actual projects look like and how budgets or clients affects them, and more.
“I would urge all landscape architecture students to get an internship, because nothing else on your resume will be as helpful as meaningful work experience.”
In preparation for her internship, Powell says she gained valuable experience here at Gibbs College of Architecture.
“My professors all genuinely cared about me and my program of study, and were willing to cater to our individual interests and needs.”
This level of care and dedication helped shape her into an adaptable and effective professional, she said.
Powell decided to study landscape architecture because its applicability to today’s social climate is one of the best things about the profession, she says.
“Landscape architecture affords me the opportunity to improve people’s quality of life and benefit the environment and the way people experience it.”
It’s a degree that offers so many possibilities, and all of them can make a positive impact on people’s quality of life in some way, she explains.
One project that she’s most proud of during her time at GCA is a tea garden for the Asian District.
Haley Powell’s Tea Garden
“While I think it is very far from perfect and there are things I would change now, I pushed myself hard on it and [it] shows a lot of growth in how I approach projects,” she says.
Working hard and giving a project your all is exactly the type of approach that Powell says is essential for incoming students to utilize. The ability to both refine one’s skills and learn quickly is what will decide success.
The Gibbs Design in Action Awards (GDAA) program, led by Dr. Wanda Liebermann, has announced its 2026–2027 funded student projects. The initiative supports design and research work that addresses social, cultural, and economic issues in the built environment through collaboration with faculty and community partners.
The OU Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) 2024 collaboration with the Historic Threatt Filling Station has been recognized in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's newly released Byways Report: The Scenic Route to Rural Prosperity – a story-driven publication exploring how road trip culture and place-based tourism can fuel economic growth in rural communities.
The Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Camille Germany, Chief of Staff, has been named the 2026 recipient of the university-wide Jennifer L. Wise Good Stewardship Award.
