Recently, a group of Gibbs College students from OU’s chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) attended the 2022 NOMA Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. The group was led by Felipe Flores, a Gibbs College PhD student and supervisor of OU’s NOMA chapter.
Alongside Flores, four of the NOMA members were able to attend, including the president Hiroki Mishima, the vice president Janvi Patel, the treasurer Gilbert Magana, and the secretary Madelyn Novosad. The two other members, Reilly Tuer and Alexa Rietz, were not in attendance, but actively participated in the creation of the team’s project for the student design competition.
Top Row: Madelyn Novosad, Reilly Tuer, Hiroki Mishima, and Janvi Patel
Bottom Row: Felipe Flores, Alexa Rietz, and Gilbert Magana
NOMA is a national organization that celebrates diversity in the architecture profession and promotes justice and equity in communities of color through architecture. The organization works to empower local chapters through outreach, community advocacy, professional development and design excellence.
The NOMA conference is an annual event that connects architects, designers, professionals and students, giving them the opportunity to connect and share industry knowledge. Flores expressed that, “NOMA is not just an architecture conference, but a means of incubating leaders who care about their community and try to go beyond the status quo.” This year’s conference, titled “Unplugged,” took place in Nashville, Tennessee from October 26 to October 30. Over the course of a few days, more than fifty sessions of seminars and workshops took place, in addition to a student design competition.
Flores and his team spent three weeks developing their project for the 2022 Barbara G. Laurie NOMA Student Design Competition. The student participants were challenged with the task of rebuilding the North Nashville community that was negatively impacted by the construction of the I-40 highway. Our student team utilized innovative design and architectural strategies in order to complete their project, titled “The Nashville N.E.T.” View the team's design boards (pdf). You can learn more about the team’s project by watching this short video.
Although the team’s project was not awarded, they still gained a lot of important knowledge and experience. The conference gave these students the opportunity to grow a deeper understanding of the importance of diversity in architecture and foster meaningful connections within the NOMA community.
Janvi Patel reflected on her experience at the conference: “The one thing that I appreciated most about this conference was meeting other Indian architects. Outside of my family, I have never seen Indian architects, so it was eye opening to learn about their experiences and how their racial background comes with a lot of challenges in the field.”
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.
