Dr. John Harris, Director of the OU Division of Regional + City Planning, and Dr. Firat Demir, professor of Economics at the University of Oklahoma, recently received a renewed grant from the Carnegie Corporation to continue the work of the Center for Peace and Development (CPD) and the Security in Context Network (SIC) through 2024.
The Carnegie Corporation had previously provided funding for the CPD and SIC Network from 2020 through 2022, and the renewed award of $275,000 will continue to fund the work of the Center for Peace and Development, including basic research on grassroots peacebuilding, applied community engagement, the CPD fellowship program, and facilitates discussions of global concern with partners across the world.
The University of Oklahoma’s Center for Peace and Development is a part of the Security in Context Network, which is an interdisciplinary network of university nodes promoting collaborative research, policy analysis and outreach on key questions regarding peace and conflict, the political economy of security and insecurity, and international norms. The CPD builds on the University of Oklahoma’s longtime work with communities in northern Uganda, bringing together OU faculty and students from across disciplines to build collaborative partnerships with communities affected by conflict.
Dr. Demir is one of the CPD’s co-directors, and Dr. Harris serves on the Center’s Executive Committee. To learn more about the Center’s work, visit their website.
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.
