Rachel Ware is a graduate student in Gibbs College’s Master of Landscape Architecture program (Class of 2018). Recently, we had the opportunity to hear about some of Rachel’s favorite experiences as a student in Gibbs College.
How have you made the most of your time as a student in the Landscape Architecture program at Gibbs College?
My experiences as a landscape architecture graduate student in the College of Architecture have been diverse, innovative, and rewarding. The college provides opportunities to collaborate with others and facilitates student success through the many resources available. I have been a part of multi-disciplinary design competitions occurring in Tulsa and Muskogee, and have traveled to Denver, Colorado as part of the OU Landscape Architecture team that won the Come Alive Outside Design Competition. I also contributed to the OKC Memorial Marathon Topographic Model, designed and fabricated in the College’s Creating-Making Lab, which has won a Central States ASLA Award and has been short-listed for a World Landscape Architecture award.
My most valued experience has been as a Graduate Research Assistant for the OU Institute for Quality Communities (IQC). The IQC partners with Oklahoma communities to address their challenges and to collaborate on creative design solutions and placemaking strategies, like our project in Muskogee, Oklahoma. My involvement in the College has prepared me to apply my skills beyond the classroom. Last summer, I acquired an internship in Richmond, Virginia, and I look forward to this summer’s opportunity as a Planning and Sustainability Intern in Seattle, Washington. I deeply appreciate the College of Architecture’s commitment to student success.
Telesis, a journal produced by students in the University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture, has earned first place in the 2026 Douglas Haskell Award for Student Journals for its seventh volume, “Unfold.” This marks the fourth time the publication has earned recognition for excellence in student architectural journalism. It shares the honor with student journals from Columbia University, University of Michigan, and Cal Poly.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture congratulates Thinh "Henry" Duong, a master's student in the Division of Interior Design, for earning first place in the 2026 Robert Bruce Thompson Annual Student Light Fixture Design Competition.
Gibbs College of Architecture Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) Director and Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design (PLAD) faculty member Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., recently published a new book, Collective Yearning: Black Women Artists from the Zimmerli Art Museum.
