The Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) project partners recently won nearly $150,000 in funding from the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) to enhance public spaces and walkability. The City of Pryor Creek and Town of Luther both received funding, which will go to streetscape and park improvements identified in IQC workshops in 2019 and 2020.
Both IQC projects were made possible in part by sponsorship from the Oklahoma Municipal League (OML), an annual partner of IQC. OML supports IQC’s Community Request for Proposals, which invited Oklahoma towns and cities to submit projects.
A section of the City of Pryor Plan.
The City of Pryor Creek will receive $102,000 to improve walkability, wayfinding, accessibility, and safe crosswalks. These streetscape improvements are related to an IQC design workshop in March of 2020, conducted in partnership with Pryor Main Street, the Mayes County HOPE Coalition, and City of Pryor.
Part of the Town of Luther plan.
The Town of Luther will receive $36,000 to carry out improvements at Wild Horse Park. IQC developed a conceptual plan for the park in partnership with the Town of Luther Parks Commission and Friends of the Park, during a Fall 2019 community engagement and design process.
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.
