Michael Southard, a Regional + City Planning alumni and current member of the RCPL Professional Advisory Board, has just been inducted as a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP)(FAICP)! Being elevated to the American Institute of Certified Planners College of Fellows is the highest honor the AICP bestows upon a member.
Fellows of AICP are nominated and selected by their peers to recognize and honor their outstanding contributions as a professional planner. According to the AICP, “The outcomes of their individual efforts left demonstrably significant and transformational improvements to the field of planning and the communities they served.”
Southard currently serves as the Economic Development Director for the Choctaw Nation. He is incredibly passionate about planning and serving the Choctaw Nation. When interviewed for the Gibbs Spotlight, he said, “I absolutely love getting paid to do my hobby. […] You know, I enjoy going to work every day, I enjoy trying to solve problems, trying to help communities and over my career, which is going on 30 years now, I’ve been able to put and build homes in areas that no one was building homes.”
Southard continued, “Now creating an entity that no one in the country has anything similar to. This truly is a passion, this is my hobby, and I happened to make a career out of it. I love the fact that I’m able to give back and improve individuals’ lives; I’m truly blessed to have been able to do what I’ve done.”
Congratulations to Michael Southard on this well-deserved recognition!
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture announces John Harris as Associate Dean for Research ad interim, effective Aug. 25, 2026, until the permanent position is filled.
Gibbs College is pleased to announce the 2026 Gibbs College Faculty & Staff Awards recipients. These individuals were recognized by Dean Butzer during the Gibbs College Back to School Meeting and will be honored during the Celebration Banquet in October. They were nominated by their colleagues via an open nomination process.
Telesis, the Gibbs College of Architecture’s student journal, has been awarded a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts to support its next two issues, “Pause” (Volume IX) and “React” (Volume X).
