Despite having to cancel the 2021 Charles W. Graham Travel Study Benefit Dinner due to the pandemic, Gibbs College is determined in its commitment to educating our students through out-of-classroom learning experiences.
This year, we ask for your help in honoring a very special advocate for travel study, the late Professor Nick Harm, who passed away in May 2020.
Prof. Nick Harm (April 28, 1950 – May 18, 2020)
It is nearly impossible to capture in words how influential Nick was in so many ways and for so many lives in our college. He arrived at OU in 1981 to begin his teaching career and only recently retired in 2016. In the intervening 35 years, Nick inspired and supported students and faculty to explore and stay curious about the world around them. He served as Director of the Division of Architecture and Interim Dean and also helped start the Division of Architecture Professional Advisory Board, in whom he inspired a dedication to raising funds to support student travel scholarships. His commitment to learning through travel was based on his own life changing experiences in the Army, as well as travelling the world and teaching in Saudi Arabia. Nick even led one of the largest groups of OU students to study in Rome in 2015.
In place of this year’s Graham Travel Study Dinner Benefit and in anticipation of a time when our students can again safely learn through out-of-classroom experiences, the Division of Architecture Professional Advisory Board is fundraising to rename their entire endowment and all the scholarships generated by it after Nick. The new Nick Harm Memorial Travel Study Scholarship will ensure that Nick’s incredible legacy is forever honored by supporting students’ travel study aspirations in all Gibbs College programs.
If you knew Prof. Harm, you know he loved an adventure! Pictured above with his family in Egypt, Thailand, Switzerland, Italy, and more.
Please save the date for Tuesday, April 13th, 2021, the University of Oklahoma’s annual, online Giving Day event. This year, in lieu of our dinner, Gibbs College is dedicating all Giving Day funds raised to the Nick Harm Memorial Travel Study Scholarship, and we have set an ambitious goal of 50 donors. Note that donors will have the opportunity to indicate which of our seven programs—Architecture, Construction Science, Environmental Design, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, Regional and City Planning, or Urban Design—they would like their donations to benefit.
We’re excited to share that matching donations are made possible this Giving Day with support from ACME Brick, MechoShade Systems, and Nick’s wife, Mimi Harm. We hope you’ll join us in honoring Nick’s memory, while also supporting student learning through hands-on exploration as soon as it’s safe to travel again.
Please keep an eye out for the Giving Day link as the event draws near. Thank you for your continued support of our precious students.
PS: If you don’t want to wait until April to give, you may donate here at any time.
Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to recognize Petya Stefanoff, who is pursuing her doctorate in the Planning, Design & Construction (PDC) program, has been appointed the new role of Director of Community Development for the City of Shawnee, Oklahoma. She joined the city in 2024.
Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., associate professor in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design and director of the Institute for Quality Communities, has received national recognition for her book Model Schools in the Model City. The book has been named a finalist for the 2026 the PROSE Awards.
Gibbs College of Architecture Regional + City Planning Professor of Practice Vanessa Morrison and Associate Professor of Architecture Deborah Richards’ Open Design Collective received top honors at the inaugural BlackSpace Urbanist Collective Studio KIN Pitch Night Competition, held last month in Brooklyn, New York City.
