The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce the inaugural recipients of the 2025 Graduate Student Research Enhancement (GSRE) Award, a new program designed to support graduate-led research with strong potential to advance scholarship across the design and construction disciplines.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to announce that the University of Oklahoma Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships has awarded $30,052 through the Strategic Equipment Investment Program (SEIP) to support the launch of the Mobile Urban Design Unit (MUDU). This new resource will allow OU teams to bring high-quality tools for research and community engagement directly into towns and neighborhoods across Oklahoma.
The Lemon Family Distinguished Speaker Series in Community and Real Estate Development launched this fall with its inaugural lecture delivered by Jared Della Valle, CEO and Co-Founder of Alloy Development.
The Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design is excited to announce that a new agreement has been formally established between Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) and the University of Oklahoma’s Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture. This partnership creates a direct and seamless transfer pathway for students from the Associate Arts (AA) of Diversified Studies at OCCC to the Bachelor of Science (BS) in Environmental Design (EnD) at OU.
Telesis is the student-led journal at the University of Oklahoma Gibbs College of Architecture. The Telesis team is considering the theme of “DESIGN_LESS” in its forthcoming issue (Vol. VIII). We invite you to contribute your work–design proposals, essays, stories, poetry, art, or other media–to this exciting publication until November 14, 2025. Contributors may be students, faculty, professionals, or community members from inside and outside the University of Oklahoma.
20 students in the Gibbs College of Architecture’s American School Design+Build (ASDB) program, including 13 architecture students, 6 construction science students and 1 environmental design student, are partnering this semester with WildCare Oklahoma, and together they have been named one of five North American finalists for the Land Rover Defender Service Awards. The honor carries the opportunity for a $30,000 grant, with funding supported by Chase and other high-profile sponsors, including Disney. Public voting is now open through October 19, 2025, to determine the winner of the Animal, Wildlife & Marine Welfare Award.
The University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture has earned national recognition with its student-produced journal Telesis, which has been awarded the 2025 Douglas Haskell Award for Student Journals by the Center for Architecture in New York City.
The Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design at the University of Oklahoma’s Gibbs College is pleased to announce the appointment of incoming Assistant Professor, Dr. Wei Liu, beginning in Fall 2025.
Please join us in congratulating the 2025 Gibbs College Faculty & Staff Awards recipients. Recipients were honored by Dean Butzer during the Gibbs College Back to School Meeting and will be recognized during the college awards banquet in October. They were nominated by their colleagues via an open nomination process.
Telesis, a journal produced by students and faculty in the University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture, has earned first-place with the 2025 Douglas Haskell Award for Student Journals for its sixth volume, “The Essence.”
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture dean Hans E. Butzer addresses graduates during the Spring 2025 commencement ceremony.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to announce the release of Telesis “Unfold,” the dynamic seventh volume of its award-winning student journal. Fully led, curated, and created by students, this seventh volume embraces the theme of unfolding, encouraging deep reflection, process-driven exploration, and storytelling from the margins.
Two students from the Gibbs College of Architecture, Cole Burris and Leandra LeForce, were recently named Mr. and Miss Indigenous OU. The titles were awarded as part of the annual Mr. and Miss Indigenous OU competition, a campus-wide event that celebrates Native culture, identity, and leadership.
On April 18, 2025, the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture hosted its annual Graduate Student Showcase, a celebration of research, design innovation, and creative exploration across all graduate programs within the College. The event transformed Gould Hall into a vibrant exhibition of ideas where students shared their work with faculty, peers, and the broader community.
An unprecedented coalition of Oklahoma’s academic institutions, Tribal Nations, industry leaders, nonprofits, and government agencies has officially submitted a full proposal to the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Engines Program. Titled WxFORGE — Forging New Frontiers in Extreme Weather Resilience and Innovation, the effort aims to position Oklahoma as a national leader in resilient infrastructure technologies, workforce development, and weather-adaptive innovations.
Please join the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture in celebrating our four Outstanding Seniors in the Class of 2025, one from each of Gibbs College’s undergraduate programs.
This April, architectural historian and preservationist Dr. Amber N. Wiley will release her book, Model Schools in the Model City, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Dr. Wiley is an associate professor of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design and the Wick Cary Director of the Institute for Quality Communities in the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma.
A message from Dr. Amber N. Wiley, director of the OU Institute for Quality Communities.
The 2025 Charles W. Graham Travel Study Gala was a record-breaking success, with over $75,000 raised. The proceeds from this event directly benefit students who are eager to travel and gain hands-on learning experiences.
Recently, PLAD instructor LaTasha Timberlake led 16 students enrolled in the Environmental Design Practicum course, providing them with an opportunity to connect classroom learning with practical application. The course is designed to help students apply their skills and theories to community projects, including work with grassroots organizations in northeast Oklahoma City, an area experiencing urban changes.
Following a national search, the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma has named Dr. Amber Wiley as the new director of the Institute for Quality Communities. An award-winning scholar, Wiley brings more than 15 years of experience in teaching, research and professional practice in historic preservation, architecture and community engagement.
Telesis, the student-led journal at the University of Oklahoma’s Gibbs College of Architecture, proudly announces the release of its sixth volume, “The Essence”. This edition embarks on a profound journey to rediscover what lies at the core of our work as designers and creators, a return to fundamentals in an era often characterized by superficiality and digital distractions.
The 2024 Gibbs College of Architecture Celebration Banquet brought together students, faculty, alumni, and donors to celebrate scholarship awards and induct three distinguished alumni into the Gibbs College Hall of Fame. Held at the Sam Noble Museum, the event recognized the achievements and commitment of the Gibbs College community.
University of Oklahoma senior Mohamed Elgouhari has been named a finalist in the SEC Start Up competition for student-athletes in the Southeastern Conference for his personal fitness app Gametime Rehab.
University of Oklahoma senior Mohamed Elgouhari has been named a finalist in the SEC Start Up competition for student-athletes in the Southeastern Conference for his personal fitness app Gametime Rehab.
Gibbs College is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 Gibbs College Faculty & Staff Awards. These outstanding individuals were honored by dean Hans E. Butzer during the Gibbs College Back to School Meeting on August 14, 2024. Recipients were selected by the Gibbs College Awards Committee following an open nomination process.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma (OU) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. John Harris to a four-year term as the inaugural Director of the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture & Design (PLAD), effective July 1, 2024.
On April 11, 2024, The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) hosted Clyde Higgs, President and CEO of the Atlanta BeltLine, to share lessons learned from the iconic project. The fully booked event drew dozens of students, members of the Taft community, event sponsors, and friends from the broader metro community.
On April 22, the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture celebrated the annual Gibbs Design Activism Awards. The GDAA is a grant initiative that supports student-led design and research projects that engage topics of community, social and economic concerns across Oklahoma.
An interdisciplinary group of OU scholars led a tour of Route 66 in Oklahoma, one of eight competitively selected sites for the National Humanities Center’s first “Being Human” festival. The festival consists of events designed to "highlight the incredible breadth of the humanities and demonstrate how they add depth and meaning to our lives, help us understand ourselves and one another, and provide context for the complex world around us.”
Gibbs College faculty Vanessa Morrison and Lisa Chronister were recently featured in the Women in Preservation video series by the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office. The series was launched during Women’s History Month in March to recognize women’s contributions to historic preservation in the state.
In collaboration with OU Landscape Services, first-year Environmental Design student Justin Jones is designing new planting beds on the east side of Gould Hall. This project ties into Jones’s Field Work course with Ron Frantz, director of the EnD Division.
The OU Institute for Quality Communities recently hosted a Route 66 Placemaking Retreat in collaboration with the OU Arts and Humanities Forum. The retreat was funded by an Oklahoma Humanities “Community Discussions” grant that an interdisciplinary OU team received in November. This retreat built upon the team’s site visits and community discussions in several historic towns along Route 66.
Nominations are now open for the University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture Hall of Fame. The goal of the Gibbs Hall of Fame is to recognize a select number of high-character individuals who have made a significant and lasting positive impact over time to Gibbs College, its students, staff, faculty, alumni and/or to communities across the globe.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture Institute for Quality Communities is proud to announce the visit of Clyde Higgs, President and CEO of Atlanta BeltLine Inc, on Thursday, April 11th to share stories and lessons learned from the iconic Atlanta BeltLine project. The event will take place at Gould Hall’s Buskuhl Gallery from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM. RSVP is required to attend.
Open Design Collective, a non-profit organization founded by Gibbs College Professors Vanessa Morrison and Deborah Richards, was recently awarded an Environmental Justice Government-to-Government Grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. Open Design will receive $500,000 to engage, support and strengthen community-led efforts in the historically Black John F. Kennedy Neighborhood in Northeast Oklahoma City.
In collaboration with the Institute for Quality Communities, OU Interior Design and Environmental Design students are working on an adaptive reuse project in Taft, Oklahoma. Taft is a small town located in Muskogee County and is one of Oklahoma’s thirteen remaining Black townships. In 2023, the community reached out to the IQC for assistance in revitalizing the town’s community spaces.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is excited to announce the Spring 2024 Career and Internship Fair! The event will take place on Thursday, February 22, 2024, from 3:30 – 6 p.m. at the Thurman J. White Forum.
In November, the Yukon City Council approved an agreement with the IQC to develop a tree canopy plan for Garth Brooks Boulevard. Yukon planning staff will work closely with a group of OU Environmental Design students, led by Professor Sarah Little, to create unique design concepts for this corridor.
Gibbs College’s annual Charles W. Graham Travel Study Gala will be held on February 23, 2024, from 6:00 – 9:30 p.m. at VAST (333 W. Sheridan Ave, 50th Floor, Oklahoma City, OK 73102 – click here for parking information). It will feature a three-course meal with fine wine pairings. Individual tickets are $200. All proceeds support student travel study scholarships and opportunities.
During summer 2023, the fourth annual Grassroots Women’s Peace Conference was convened at St. Monica’s Vocational School in Gulu, Uganda. The conference was organized by OU’s Center for Peace and Development and St. Monica’s as well as 10 other grassroots women’s organizations. The conference also received support from a gift by the Gibbs College of Architecture.
An interdisciplinary team from the University of Oklahoma recently received funding from Oklahoma Humanities, a non-profit organization in Oklahoma City. The funding will support a humanities-informed design experience in preparation for the Route 66 centennial in 2026. The project, Route 66 Placemaking Communities Retreat, will explore placemaking efforts for communities along the historic Mother Road.
Telesis is the student-led journal at the University of Oklahoma Gibbs College of Architecture. Following its last volume, “Adaptive Practice” (Vol. V), the Telesis team is considering the theme of “The Essence” in its forthcoming volume (Vol. VI). We invite you to contribute your work–design proposals, essays, stories, poetry, art or other media–to this exciting publication until Monday, November 27, 2023. Contributors may be students, faculty, professionals, or community members from inside and outside the University of Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma Gibbs College of Architecture, in partnership with the OU School of Visual Arts, is pleased to announce that Alison Fisher and Craig Lee will give a public lecture as a part of the 2023 Goff Lecture Series. The lecture will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 4:30 p.m. in Nielsen Hall, room 170.
Bruce Wilkinson, OU alumnus and major supporter of Gibbs College, recently received a Regents’ Alumni Award from the OU Board of Regents and OU Alumni Association. This award celebrates the profound way OU alumni and supporters shape the university’s vibrant future.
Vanessa Morrison, an award-winning urban planner, has agreed to serve as the new interim director of the Institute for Quality Communities. The appointment was announced by Gibbs College Dean Hans Butzer and made effective on Sept. 1, 2023.
Ronald Frantz Jr, associate professor of Architecture, was recently recognized at the 2023 AIA Honor Awards Celebration. Frantz received the AIA Oklahoma Award for Lifetime Achievement, which recognizes a lifetime of distinguished leadership and dedication in Architecture and the community. This award is AIA Oklahoma’s highest honor.
Telesis, the Gibbs College of Architecture’s award-winning student journal, is releasing its fifth edition in Fall 2023. This edition, “Adaptive Practice,” called for contributions from interdisciplinary problem solvers who reject the status quo and redefine “business as usual” through their work.
Gibbs College is excited to announce that Gould Hall underwent several renovations during summer 2023. These building improvements were made in an effort to meet the growing needs of students, faculty and staff, as student enrollment has increased by over 300 students in the past five years.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is excited to announce the Fall 2023 Career and Internship Fair! The event will take place on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, from 3-6 p.m. at the Thurman J. White Forum.
Gibbs College, in partnership with its OU Institute for Quality Communities, is announcing a leadership transition. Shane Hampton has stepped down from the role of executive director of the Institute for Quality Communities, effective Aug. 25. The IQC team will continue to lead programs and projects in the 2023 – 2024 academic year.
Please join us in congratulating the 2023 Gibbs College Faculty & Staff Awards recipients. Recipients were honored by Dean Butzer during the Gibbs College Back to School Meeting on Thursday, Aug. 17. They were nominated by their colleagues via an open nomination process.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce the creation of the new Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design.
OU Gibbs College is pleased to announce that Thomas Kang is invited to give a public lecture in the upcoming fall semester. Thomas Kang is a professor in the Department of Architecture & Architectural Engineering at Seoul National University (SNU) in Korea. Before that, he was a professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science at OU and has held various affiliated positions at universities around the world.
OU Gibbs College is pleased to announce that David Logan is invited to give a public lecture in the upcoming school year. Logan is currently the Director of Tax & Trade Policy Analysis for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
OU Gibbs College is pleased to announce that Chadwick Allen is invited to give a public lecture in the upcoming fall semester, co-sponsored by OU Departments of English, Film & Media Studies, Geography and Native American Studies. Chadwick Allen serves as the Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement at the University of Washington Seattle (UW), where he is also a Professor of English and Adjunct Professor of American Indian Studies. He has published numerous books and has conducted interdisciplinary work on Indigenous earthworks – a study of cultural and political revitalization through the built environment.
Following an internal search, the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture has appointed Suchismita (Suchi) Bhattacharjee as associate dean for academics and college administration, effective July 1, 2023.
John Harris has agreed to serve as interim director of the newly established Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design at the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture. The appointment was effective July 1, 2023.
OU Gibbs College is pleased to announce that Jonathan Tate is invited to give a public lecture in the upcoming fall semester. Jonathan Tate is the founder and principal of OJT, an award-winning architecture firm based in New Orleans. OJT was established in 2011 as a creative, expansive, and exploratory practice with a desire to contribute to contemporary discourse.
The Gibbs College of Architecture and OU Libraries invite you to celebrate exhibitions on the American School in California. These exhibitions showcase the works of John Marsh Davis and Mickey Muennig, two architects who studied at OU under Bruce Goff and went on to have distinguished careers in California.
Twelve Gibbs students recently traveled to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona for a travel study course led by Interior Design Professor Mia Kile. Taliesin West was architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and studio in the desert and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Historic Landmark.
OU Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that David J. Lewis, a principal of LTL Architects and dean of Parsons School of Constructed Environments, has been appointed as the Goff Chair of Creative Architecture for fall 2023. For his lecture, Lewis will discuss his work related to the Manual of Biogenic House Sections, which articulates how plant-based and low-carbon materials can produce a profound rethinking of section in houses.
The OU Center for Peace and Development (CPD) is now accepting applications for the fall 2023 Security in Context (SiC) Research Fellows grant. All OU graduate students are eligible to apply, and selected students will receive a scholarship of $2,500 for the upcoming fall semester.
During the spring 2023 semester, OU Environmental Design students created reuse design concepts for the historic Jewel Theater in northeast Oklahoma City. Led by Vanessa Morrison, assistant director of OU’s Institute for Quality Communities, students conducted research, listened to local stakeholders and visited historic sites to gain a deeper understanding of the spatial and social challenges facing the Black community in Oklahoma City.
On April 21, Gibbs College celebrated the inaugural Gibbs Design Activism Awards (GDAA). The GDAA is a grant-initiative that supports student-led design and research projects that engage topics of community, social and economic concerns across Oklahoma.
On March 20th, hundreds of planning and design professionals, civic leaders, and students gathered at the University of Oklahoma for the 5th biennial Institute for Quality Communities’ Placemaking Conference. The all-day event featured speakers working in a variety of fields, all of which contribute to community placemaking.
Environmental Design student Anthony Rodriguez recently published an op-ed in the Oklahoma City Free Press. His article, “Changing Attitudes Over Urban Sprawl Have Taken Hold In OKC,” focuses on the need for social interactions during the pandemic and how mixed-used developments can help foster more social interactions.
A gift to the University of Oklahoma will honor alumnus and esteemed architect Bob Faust by creating multiple new faculty and staff positions dedicated to the American School, an innovative design practice developed at OU in the 1950s and ’60s. Sherry Faust, Bob Faust’s spouse, has made a multi-million-dollar planned gift in his honor to University Libraries and OU’s Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture.
The 2023 Charles W. Graham Travel Study Benefit Dinner was a huge success, with about 200 attendees and over $34,000 raised. The 11th annual event was held Friday, February 11, at Vast restaurant in Oklahoma City. The proceeds from this event directly benefit students who are eager to travel and gain hands on learning experiences.
Gibbs College’s annual Charles W. Graham Travel Study Benefit Dinner will be held on February 10, 2023, from 6:00 – 9:30 p.m. at VAST (333 W. Sheridan Ave, 50th Floor, Oklahoma City, OK 73102). It will feature a three-course meal with fine wine pairings.
The Center for Spatial Analysis recently hosted OU’s 2022 GIS Day, on November 16 in the Oklahoma Memorial Union, featuring a student poster competition with cash prizes giving attendees the opportunity to network with GIS professionals. Two of the undergraduate winners, Daniela Kosnacova and Luke Kerr, were advised by Gibbs College faculty members.
Recently Gibbs College dean Hans Butzer and Karen Renfroe of the OU Foundation spoke with OU alumnus Michael McKelvy. They sat down with McKelvy to learn more about his position as CEO of McDermott International, his time at OU, and his ideas for the future of design-build education.
The National Brownfields Training Conference was held in Oklahoma City from August 16th through the 19th. The local and national planning committees for the annual conference began work on the meeting in March of 2020. Ron Frantz, Director of the Environmental Design Program, served on the Local Planning Committee’s Mobile Workshops, Socials, and Evening Receptions Committee.
Telesis, the Gibbs College of Architecture’s award-winning student journal, is releasing its fourth edition in Fall 2022. This edition, “Habitation,” questions how we may ensure all things, living and non-living, may continue to inhabit our planet. “Habitation” continues the overarching theme explored in “Isolation”: “How can design aid people’s sense of belonging?”
Five graduates from the Gibbs College of Architecture received Outstanding Academic Achievement Awards this April. This award recognizes the top grade point average for each undergraduate major.
GCA Communications intern Kali Curtis spoke with Vireak They, an environmental design alumnus here at Gibbs! We spoke with Vireak They to learn more about Osmosis Architects, his architecture firm in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
GCA Communications intern Kali Curtis spoke with Sonia Ramirez, an Environmental Design alumna here at Gibbs! We sat down with Ramirez to learn about how the use of technology and design methods have changed since she graduated. She graduated with her Bachelor of Environmental Design (2019) with a focus in Interior Design from the Gibbs College of Architecture.
