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.
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.
