Professors of Interior Design Dr. Suchismita Bhattacharjee and Dr. Yeji Yi and graduate student Azra Fific presented at the I.D.E.A. symposium, hosted by OU’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
This event was created to highlight inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (I.D.E.A.) across OU’s campus and within the local community. The symposium featured a variety of interactive workshops and presentations that explored the intersections of I.D.E.A. in higher education.
Dr. Bhattacharjee and Dr. Yi presented their teaching experience, “Universal Design in Architecture,” regarding how the built environment can be inclusively and universally designed to support diverse groups of people. Fific presented her project “Refugees and Placemaking: Healing Trauma Through Interior Design.” In her presentation, Fific investigated placemaking and interior design strategies to help the Afghan refugee community heal trauma and assimilate to Oklahoma City.
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
