The Gibbs College of Architecture is excited to announce our Goff Lecture Series for the upcoming school year. This lecture series was made possible with support from the Bruce Goff Chair of Creative Architecture.
Date – Wednesday, Sept. 13, 4 p.m.
Location –Neilsen Hall, Room 170
Event Contact – Amy Leveno (amyleveno@ou.edu)
Jonathan Tate is the founder and principal of OJT, an award-winning architecture firm based in New Orleans. OJT was established in 2011 as a creative, expansive and exploratory practice with a desire to contribute to contemporary discourse. Tate’s firm has a unique setup that is embedded in both practice and research. His work embraces ideas of community engagement and serving using design to address the challenges of housing and urbanism, particularly in the affordable realm. For his lecture, Tate will discuss his firm’s work and related topical issues that are currently impacting the built environment.
Date – Friday, Oct. 13, 1:30 p.m.
Location – Dale Hall, Room 128
Event Contact – Shideh Shadravan (shideh@ou.edu)
Thomas Kang is a professor in the Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering at Seoul National University in Korea. Before that, he was a professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science at OU and has held various affiliated positions around the world. Kang has a vast knowledge of the design and behavior of reinforced, prestressed and post-tensioned concrete structures, as well as the dynamic effects caused by wind, seismic, fire and impulse. For his lecture, Kang will discuss topics related to architecture, structure and construction.
Date – Monday, Oct. 23, 4 p.m.
Location – Neilsen Hall, Room 170
Event Contact – Wanda Liebermann (wkliebermann@ou.edu)
David Lewis is a principal of LTL Architects and dean of Parsons School of Constructed Environments. Along with the other Principals of LTL Architects, Lewis has refocused the practice to embrace carbon sequestering materials through architectural representation and work. This redefinition of the firm coincided with the release of his book Manual of Biogenic House Sections (ORO Editions 2022), which articulates how plant-based and low-carbon materials can produce a profound rethinking of section in houses. For his lecture, Lewis will discuss his work related to Manual of Biogenic House Sections.
Date – Tuesday, Nov. 7, 4:30 p.m.
Location – Neilsen Hall, Room 170
Event Contacts – Angela Person (a@ou.edu) & Emily Warner (eswarner@ou.edu)
Alison Fisher and Craig Lee, curators of architecture and design at the Art Institute of Chicago, are organizing a major retrospective of Bruce Goff for late 2025. In this lecture, they will share a preview of some key themes and objects driving the exhibition project, in particular their research around the full, rich creative practice of Goff that encompassed architecture, music, painting, and his personal collections. This lecture is made possible with support from the OU School of Visual Arts and the OU Bruce Goff Chair of Creative Architecture.
Date – Monday, Nov. 13, 4 – 5 p.m.
Location – Neilsen Hall, Room 170
Event Contacts – Joanna Hearne (jhearne@ou.edu) and Chris Morrey (chris.morrey@ou.edu)
Chadwick Allen is a professor of English and adjunct professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington Seattle. Allen has published numerous books, including Earthworks Rising: Mound Building in Native Literature and Arts (University of Minnesota Press, 2022), and has conducted interdisciplinary work on Indigenous earthworks—a study of cultural and political revitalization through the built environment. For his lecture, he will give a brief overview of his book and will also discuss examples of how Indigenous nations in Oklahoma are reimagining ancient traditions of building large-scale earthworks.
Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to recognize Petya Stefanoff, who is pursuing her doctorate in the Planning, Design & Construction (PDC) program, has been appointed the new role of Director of Community Development for the City of Shawnee, Oklahoma. She joined the city in 2024.
Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., associate professor in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design and director of the Institute for Quality Communities, has received national recognition for her book Model Schools in the Model City. The book has been named a finalist for the 2026 the PROSE Awards.
Gibbs College of Architecture Regional + City Planning Professor of Practice Vanessa Morrison and Associate Professor of Architecture Deborah Richards’ Open Design Collective received top honors at the inaugural BlackSpace Urbanist Collective Studio KIN Pitch Night Competition, held last month in Brooklyn, New York City.
