Norman, Okla. – In its third year of publication, the University of Oklahoma's student design journal, Telesis, has again earned national recognition. Telesis is organized by students and faculty in OU's Gibbs College of Architecture.
Recently, the Center for Architecture, a leading cultural venue for architecture and the built environment in New York City, announced the Douglas Haskell Award for Student Journals. The award was founded to encourage student journalism on architecture, planning, and related subjects, and to foster regard for intelligent criticism among future professionals.
Telesis, the Gibbs College of Architecture’s student journal, received the award for its latest volume, "Isolation." The volume explores how design can influence one’s sense of belonging, a question Telesis will continue to explore in forthcoming editions. Topics such as incarceration, discrimination, and disaster displacement were areas of focus in contributors’ investigations regarding how design can be used to improve conditions for isolated individuals. The University of Oklahoma is joined by Yale University and the University of Michigan as 2022 honorees.
A spread from Telesis "Isolation"
The Telesis journal was first published at the University of Oklahoma in the 1970s and was discontinued after several years of publication. It was brought back in the 2018-2019 academic year. Students have since published three issues, “Design Against," “Metamedia," and “Isolation." Its upcoming issues, “Habitation” and “Adaptive Practice,” seek to explore new ways of being as well as the design processes needed to make co-produced habitation possible.
Telesis also received the Douglas Haskell Award during its first year after returning in 2019. The journal also received a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Fine Art in 2021.
Contributors to “Isolation” included:
The organizers for Telesis "Isolation" included Evan Sack, Ben DeCuyper, and Ryan Godfrey. The primary faculty advisor is Dr. Angela Person. Prof. Marjorie Callahan provided essential support for this volume.
Flip through Telesis "Isolation" below!
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.
