The OU Carceral Studies Consortium recently announced the recipients of the Spring 2023 Community-Engaged Micro-Grants and Undergraduate Student Work Prizes. The Carceral Consortium offers two micro-grants of up to $500 to OU students, faculty and staff members to support research, mentorships and community engagement projects. Among this year’s grant recipients are Marjorie Callahan, a professor of architecture, and Kristi Saliba, an architecture student.
The Carceral Studies Consortium is concerned with the political and social systems that organize, shape, sustain and entrench practices of punishment, surveillance, incarceration and harm. Currently, over 11 million people are held in detention globally, with the United States having the highest jail and prison population rates. According to Professor Callahan, the current penal system is characterized by overcrowding and high death rates as a result of illness, homicide and suicide. At the Gibbs College of Architecture, design studios and seminars have recently taken on the challenge to create safe and healthy living environments not only for inmates but also those who visit, work and live in these facilities.
Callahan received the micro-grant for her project Jail Transition Through Architecture and Design, in collaboration with Frankfurt-Short-Bruza Architects + Engineers. The project explores innovative design ideas for future jail facilities that are disaster resilient, help improve circulations to the county courthouse, offer green and healthy living environments and remove constant and inhumane surveillance. The funding will be used to initiate conversations between students’ past findings and studio projects and the actual design firm selected to create the new local jail in Oklahoma County.
Saliba received the Student Work Grand Prize for her project, Beyond Bars and Borders: Refugee Camps as Carceral Spaces and the Architect’s Role in Humanitarian Design Solutions. Advised by Callahan, Saliba’s project documents the harsh reality of African refugee camps and explores how these conditions compare to those of carceral spaces. In her paper, Saliba explains how current architecture supports the negative treatment of both inmates and refugees.
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.
Gibbs Construction Science and Architecture students recently traveled to Dublin, Ireland, to compete in the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Region 8 Student Competition. The team partnered with Czech Technical University and secured third place in the Design-Build category.
Gibbs College is pleased to present the exhibition Vollendorf in Oklahoma: The Architecture of Dean Bryant Vollendorf during the Spring 2026 semester. It will be on display in Gould Hall, on the OU-Norman Campus, from February 16, 2026 - March 13, 2026.
