Rachel Ware is a graduate student in Gibbs College’s Master of Landscape Architecture program (Class of 2018). Recently, we had the opportunity to hear about some of Rachel’s favorite experiences as a student in Gibbs College.
How have you made the most of your time as a student in the Landscape Architecture program at Gibbs College?
My experiences as a landscape architecture graduate student in the College of Architecture have been diverse, innovative, and rewarding. The college provides opportunities to collaborate with others and facilitates student success through the many resources available. I have been a part of multi-disciplinary design competitions occurring in Tulsa and Muskogee, and have traveled to Denver, Colorado as part of the OU Landscape Architecture team that won the Come Alive Outside Design Competition. I also contributed to the OKC Memorial Marathon Topographic Model, designed and fabricated in the College’s Creating-Making Lab, which has won a Central States ASLA Award and has been short-listed for a World Landscape Architecture award.
My most valued experience has been as a Graduate Research Assistant for the OU Institute for Quality Communities (IQC). The IQC partners with Oklahoma communities to address their challenges and to collaborate on creative design solutions and placemaking strategies, like our project in Muskogee, Oklahoma. My involvement in the College has prepared me to apply my skills beyond the classroom. Last summer, I acquired an internship in Richmond, Virginia, and I look forward to this summer’s opportunity as a Planning and Sustainability Intern in Seattle, Washington. I deeply appreciate the College of Architecture’s commitment to student success.
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.
