The Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to announce that Sanjita Basnet, a graduate student in the Master’s in Regional and City Planning program at the University of Oklahoma, has been selected as a recipient of the 2025 American Planning Association (APA) Foundation Diversity Scholarship.
Awarded by the APA Foundation, the highly competitive scholarship supports students who intend to pursue careers in planning and who bring diverse perspectives to the profession. This year, only 21 students nationwide were selected to receive the award, which provides $5,000 in direct support toward academic expenses.
Basnet’s academic work and professional aspirations are grounded in community-engaged planning and the creation of built environments that respond meaningfully to the people they serve. Reflecting on the honor, she shared that receiving the 2025 APA Foundation Diversity Scholarship will have a significant impact on her academic and professional journey.
With her planning degree, Basnet is committed to prioritizing community input as a central component of sustainable community development and responsible planning practice. She described the scholarship as more than financial support, noting that it brings together planning professionals from a wide range of backgrounds and empowers recipients to address long-standing challenges within the field. Basnet expressed deep gratitude to the APA Foundation for its generous support and for investing in the next generation of planners.
Gibbs College congratulates Sanjita Basnet on this outstanding honor and looks forward to the impact she will continue to make through her academic and professional work.
A project designed by Gibbs College of Architecture faculty member Austin Lightle has been selected for BuildFest 2026, a national art and architecture festival held at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York, on the historic grounds of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival.
Two Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture alumni are helping shape recommendations that could influence affordable housing design and construction across Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma Libraries recently welcomed Carl Siegel as an Architecture Librarian and Archivist and Assistant Professor. In his role, Siegel supports students, faculty and staff across the Gibbs College of Architecture while also serving as archivist for the American School of Architecture Archives.
