Dr. Wanda Liebermann, an assistant professor of Architecture, was recently awarded funding as a part of the Gibb’s College of Architecture’s Program for Research Enhancement. Each year, this merit-based program grants funds to Gibb’s faculty members in order to increase their research and creative activities.
Dr. Liebermann received the grant to fund the completion of her book manuscript, Architecture’s Disability Problem, in contract with Routledge. The book analyzes architectural documents and built form, and utilizes public media, interviews, and direct professional experience to address the persistence of exclusionary architectural designs.
Dr. Liebermann analyzes design education, code and policy, and projects that challenge code-compliance to understand how architects produce and share knowledge about atypical human bodies. Her book fights for more creative engagement with concepts like accommodation and interdependence with a goal of reconceptualizing relationships between the built environment and the human body.
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.
