Due to the generous donations of University of Oklahoma faculty, staff, students and the broader community, more than 130 books have been sent to the Eddie Warrior Correctional Center (EWCC) since August 2020. EWCC houses more than 800 incarcerated women, 580 of whom tested positive for COVID-19 in September 2020.
Roxie Kirk, who oversees the EWCC library, said “[The books] have been unbelievably helpful during this stressful time. I can’t thank you enough. The women have been devouring them”.
Donated books include Toni Morrison’s Bluest Eyes and Jazz, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, There, There by Tommy Orange, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory, and Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, among others. Best-selling author Celeste Ng, who wrote Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere, donated ten books as well.
The wish list remains online for anyone who would like to donate.
Special thanks to OU Carceral Studies Consortium board members Emma Colven, Anthony Levenda, and Olivia Robson for organizing the book drive.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture professor and Institute for Quality Communities Director Dr. Amber N. Wiley’s book, Model Schools in the Model City: Race, Planning, and Education in the Nation’s Capital, has received two major honors from the Urban History Association.
Research initiated by Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture alumna Naila Hasan during her master’s studies at the University of Oklahoma has continued through faculty collaboration and resulted in a peer-reviewed publication in HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal.
Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce Esther Thorp, Tyler Boydstun and Chukwuma Nwokoye as the winners of the 2026 Construction Innovation Translation Hub (CIThub) Student Ideas Competition.
