Associate Professor of Interior Design Mia Kile received the Award for Excellence in Transdisciplinary, Convergent Research, which recognizes excellence in leadership in the creation of collaborative teams of recent faculty projects. Professor Kile and her team also received the Annual Award for Excellence in Research Grants, for acquiring over $1,000,000 in grants in 2022.
Mia Kile is one of the leaders of the Happy Teacher Wellness Intervention Team, which is a four-year research project being conducted by an interdisciplinary team of OU researchers. Funded by a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the team will take a holistic view of physical, psychological and professional well-being, as well as the impact of workplace conditions, for Head Start teachers in Oklahoma.
Elizabeth Pober, the Director of the Division of Interior Design, spoke about Mia Kile and her work: “Mia has dedicated numerous hours towards her research impacting local communities and educators. This award recognizes the significant contributions she has made and will continue to make in the future.”
Congratulations to Professor Kile for these well-deserved awards!
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
