Vanessa Morrison, the Associate Director of the OU Institute for Quality Communities and co-founder of Open Design Collective, recently authored a column in The Oklahoman titled “Let’s celebrate everyday, unseen roles Black women play in Oklahoma communities.”
Vanessa discusses the vital roles that Black women often play without garnering recognition or attention. She writes, “Black women continuously work to restore and uplift our community even in the absence of the resources to do this intentional work. Collectively, Black women tirelessly serve our community to solve many of the challenges we face, and it is because of the wildly visionary capabilities of the Black women who’ve come before us, and the ones who now stand beside us, that many of us are driven to be achievers today.”
She calls on readers to celebrate the everyday roles that Black women play – ones that might go unseen but are incredibly impactful to the community. She mentions hair stylists and chosen big sisters as just some of those unseen roles that help support her and the community. Vanessa recognizes the Black women that came before her, writing, “We carry these women in our spirit and lean on them to guide us, not only in the work we do, but in the life that we live.”
Read the entire article on The Oklahoman's website.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture professor and Institute for Quality Communities Director Dr. Amber N. Wiley’s book, Model Schools in the Model City: Race, Planning, and Education in the Nation’s Capital, has received two major honors from the Urban History Association.
Research initiated by Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture alumna Naila Hasan during her master’s studies at the University of Oklahoma has continued through faculty collaboration and resulted in a peer-reviewed publication in HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal.
Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce Esther Thorp, Tyler Boydstun and Chukwuma Nwokoye as the winners of the 2026 Construction Innovation Translation Hub (CIThub) Student Ideas Competition.
