Congratulations to first-year Architecture student Viridiana Hernandez, who was recently named a Robert L. Wesley Award recipient.
Created in 2020, the Robert L. Wesley Award supports BIPOC undergraduate students enrolled in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, or structural engineering programs across the US. The award, named in honor of OU alumnus and former S.O.M. principal Robert L. Wesley, aims to support the academic development of the student recipients.
Viridiana says, “My biggest motivators to be successful are my mother, becoming an example to people that come from a similar background as me, and being able to help them reach the summit as well.”
Viridiana grew up in Mexico and came to the United States at a young age. She hopes to become the first in her family to obtain a college degree and to one day own her own design-build firm. Because she has not been able to visit her home country, she dreams of working internationally and becoming an advocate for people who come from a similar background—showing that it is possible to achieve anything if you really push for it.
“We are absolutely thrilled that Viridiana has chosen architecture as the backbone of her path to success,” said Dr. Angela Person, Assistant Professor at Gibbs College of Architecture.
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.
