The work of Environmental Design students was featured in a special report by the Independent Shopkeepers Association (ISA) of Oklahoma, the State of Retail 2020.
Students in the Environmental Design Practicum, Spring 2020, worked with community partners in the Bricktown, Downtown Norman, the Plaza District, and Uptown 23rd Street to record tenant mix trends in urban commercial districts. They also worked to identify and research dozens of benchmark districts in peer cities in the United States. Their work was compiled into a special report published by the ISA to offer insights on trends and areas for growth in local districts (see below).
Students who contributed to the research and collaboration with local partners included Cy Bergner, Cole Brignac, Justin Fish, Jennifer Fuentes, Johanna Hilmes, Logan Holtmyer, Charles Joly, Isabel Kienzle, Andrew Meyers, David Miller, Shobha Pathmanathan, Emily Perkins, Trey Potts, Jackson Schultz, Edward Schwarz, Mingming Shi, AJ Talib, Cooper Wilson, and Yueyang ‘Elijah’ Wu.
The Environmental Design Practicum carries OU’s service learning designation and is led by Shane Hampton, director of the Institute for Quality Communities.
Above: Environmental Design practicum students. Note: Taken in Spring 2020, before social distancing protocols were put in place for COVID-19.
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.
