Landscape Architecture Professor Honored with 2025 CELA Faculty Excellence in Service Learning Award

The Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to share that Dr. Sarah Little, Associate Director of the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design at the University of Oklahoma, was named the 2025 Winner of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) Faculty Excellence in Service Learning Award (Senior Faculty Level).

This highly competitive award recognizes outstanding faculty whose teaching, research, and outreach have advanced service learning in landscape architecture education. As the premier organization for educators in the discipline, this CELA honor reflects Dr. Little’s unwavering commitment to community-engaged learning and design excellence.

Over the past several years, Dr. Little has led transformative service-learning projects across Oklahoma, engaging students with real-world challenges and diverse communities. Her initiatives have not only enhanced student learning outcomes but also produced meaningful, lasting impact in the places they served.

Recent service learning project highlights include:

• A collaborative redesign of the Institute of Child Development’s outdoor classroom at OU, created with students from both Landscape Architecture and Early Childhood Education.
• The Elbow Recreational and Cultural Area project in Guthrie, Oklahoma, which honored a historically African American community through design, research, and storytelling.
• A STEM workshop with RestoreOKC, in which high school interns led the design and installation of pollinator gardens in Northeast Oklahoma City.

In each of these projects, Dr. Little has modeled interdisciplinary collaboration and a deep respect for local knowledge and lived experiences. Her students describe her as a mentor who cultivates empathy, active listening, and a sense of professional responsibility to the communities they serve.

Please join us in recognizing Dr. Little for this well-deserved honor!