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The National Brownfields Training Conference was held in Oklahoma City from August 16th through the 19th. The local and national planning committees for the annual conference began work on the meeting in March of 2020. Ron Frantz, Director of the Environmental Design Program, served on the Local Planning Committee’s Mobile Workshops, Socials, and Evening Receptions Committee.
Originally planned for April 27th – 30th in 2021, the conference was delayed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the planning committee’s commitment to an in-person conference in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City was chosen for the site of the conference due to the brownfield redevelopment happening in the city. The OKC Convention Center, where the conference was held, was built on a redeveloped brownfield.
Kevin Thomas, Sara Delroshan, Henry Wilson
This conference brought over two thousand brownfield professionals from across the country to share knowledge about case study examples, program updates, and useful strategies for facing the challenges of developing brownfields. The conference featured federal agencies, engineering firms, developers, nonprofits, and more. Brownfields 2022 also held special sessions on local economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several representatives from the OU Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture played key roles in the conference:
Brownfields 2022 also extends a special thanks to the following Gibbs College students who worked many hours over the five days of events:
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.
