Each year, the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office, part of the Oklahoma Historical Society, hosts the annual conference with over 300 people from across the state in attendance. For the 2017 conference, Associate Professor Ron Frantz served on the local planning committee for the conference. As founder of this informal gathering a number of years ago, Frantz coordinated the annual “Eggs & Architects” breakfast for design professionals and historic preservationists to gather and talk about issues. This year, Frantz was the Master of Ceremonies for the annual Awards Banquet at the Oklahoma History Center, which drew over 150 people from across the state. During the Banquet, 22 Oklahoma sites were recognized with National Register designations and 39 Oklahoma projects or programs received Citations of Merit. Two of these were for student projects in Environmental Design programs. Frantz served as moderator during two of the sessions during the conference, introducing panels of preservation practitioners who presented a variety of projects.
Congratulations Ron!
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.
In May, students from the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture's Architecture, Environmental Design, and Interior Design programs participated in an intensive five-day Studio in Residence at Taliesin West, the iconic winter home and desert laboratory of Frank Lloyd Wright.
