Professors of Interior Design Mia Kile and Dawn Loraas recently received seed funding grants from the OU Institute for Community and Society Transformation. ICAST awarded seed funding grants to seven interdisciplinary teams to aid in the development of their projects related to community and societal transformation.
Loraas and her team members Cian Brown and Megan Jester were granted $25,000 for their project, “The Impact of the Built Environment on Elementary Students’ Social and Emotional Learning.” This project addresses social and structural disparities experienced by elementary students, and assesses the built-environment and social-emotional learning curriculum of an elementary school.
Kile and her team also were granted $25,000 for their project, “Studying the Effects of Playing in the ‘OU Free Play Lab’ on 1st-5th Graders’ Overall Well-being.” This project will pilot test and quantify developmental, behavioral, neural and child well-being outcomes of introducing the OU Free Play Lab into a public school setting where children can engage in free play on a weekly basis.
Learn more about the projects and see the full list of grant recipients.
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.
