Dr. Angela M. Person [pronounced Pierce-uhn] serves as Associate Dean for Research and External Engagement at the University of Oklahoma’s Gibbs College of Architecture, where she is also Associate Professor of Architecture and President’s Associates Second Century Presidential Professor. Her research and teaching explore the intersections of architectural theory, environmental sustainability, cultural heritage, and the socio-political dimensions of architecture. Dr. Person’s collaborative and interdisciplinary work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Graham Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, U.S Department of Commerce, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and others, and featured by major media outlets including NPR, Washington Post, Bloomberg CityLab, Architects’ Newspaper, Architectural Record, Fast Company, and more.
Dr. Person has co-curated several major exhibitions, including Capital Brutalism at the National Building Museum (2024-2025) and Outré West at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center (2024-2025). She has a record of award-winning, peer-reviewed publications. She is first author of the book The Care and Keeping of Cultural Institutions (2014), and co-editor of others including Affective Architectures: More-Than-Representational Geographies of Heritage (2020) and Renegades: Bruce Goff and the American School of Architecture (2020), the latter earning the 2021 Oklahoma Book Award for Design. Her scholarly articles have appeared in journals including the Journal of Architectural Education, where her work with Prof. Deborah Richards on equity and dignity in design won the 2023 JAE Award for Design. She co-edited a special issue of the journal Enquiry, on the theme “Inclusive Design Pedagogies and Practices,” with Dr. Stephanie Pilat and Dr. Carmina Sanchez-del-Valle. She is currently co-editing The International Handbook of Heritage and Affect, with more than 40 international contributions from leading scholars (forthcoming, Routledge), with Dr. Jacqueline Micieli-Voutsinas.
Dr. Person’s teaching was recognized with the 2023 Course Development Prize in Architecture, Climate Change, and Society by the Association for Collegiate Schools of Architecture, with co-instructor, Dr. Stephanie Pilat. She was also awarded the 2022 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Faculty Excellence Award from the University of Oklahoma. Her leadership in the Environmental Sustainability Working Group (ESWG) earned her the 2021 University of Oklahoma Environmental Concerns Committee Award for Environmental Stewardship, with co-mentor Dr. Randy Peppler.
Dr. Person, with Dr. Peppler, has guided the ESWG students to numerous awards, including the Phi Kappa Phi Undergraduate Research Day Grand Prize for Brooke Foster’s “Expressions of Place Attachment, Mobility, and Justice related to the Tar Creek Superfund Site,” and multiple honors at the Southwest Division of the Association of American Geographers’ Conference and other venues. Additionally, the student journal Telesis, for which Dr. Person serves as faculty advisor, has twice been awarded the Center for Architecture’s Douglas Haskell Award for Student Journals.
In addition to her academic and research achievements, Dr. Person has served on various campus committees. She is a member of the Arts and Humanities Forum Board, the Faculty Honorifics Committee, and the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Faculty Advisory Board. She also serves as an alternate IRB member. Dr. Person has also supported the Center for Faculty Excellence, the First-Year Student Success Committee, and the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Women’s Issues. She is committed to interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement, and she served as a founding board member of the OU Carceral Studies Consortium.
