Design Students Receive Scholarships, Awards at Fay Jones School's 2019 Honors Ceremony

Beth Hall Photography

The crowd is gathered for the 2019 Honors Recognition Reception and Ceremony, held April 12 in Vol Walker Hall on the University of Arkansas campus. More than $164,000 was awarded through scholarships, and 87 students were honored.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design honored 87 students at the 2019 Honors Recognition Reception and Ceremony, held April 12 in Vol Walker Hall on the University of Arkansas campus. More than $164,000 was handed out through scholarships that recognized various aspects of achievement among architecture, landscape architecture and interior design students.

Many honors were awarded under each of the three departments, while some honors were available to any student within the school. Some students received multiple honors.

Students selected from the entire school for recognition included:

• Caleb Bertels, an architecture and Honors College student who was named the Senior Scholar. This designation is for the graduating senior from the school with the highest grade point average.
• Sloan Aulgur, an interior design and Honors College student who received the University of Arkansas Presidential Scholarship. This is awarded to the student with a high academic record in the school.
• Conley Lents (architecture), Rebekah Reynolds (interior design) and Zane Colvin (landscape architecture), who received the Pryor Award for Leadership in Architecture and Design. Lents, Reynolds and Colvin are also Honors College students.
• Rachel Filgas, an architecture and Honors College student who received the Alpha Rho Chi Medal. This is awarded to the final-year student who has shown leadership ability, performed willing service for the school and demonstrated promise of professional merit through attitude and personality.
• Sloan Aulgur, an interior design student, and Zachary Spero, an architecture student, who both received the HFA Designing with Technology Scholarship. This is awarded to rising third-, fourth- or fifth-year students who demonstrate the use and integration of technology in architectural and interior design through use of illustration, planning and design. Aulgur and Spero are also Honors College students.
• Peyton Richards, an interior design student, and Jasiel Akins, an architecture student, who both received the Michael J. Buono Sustainability Medal. This is awarded to fifth-year students who have demonstrated the greatest concern in design studios, cognate courses and the community for environmental, ecological and energy conservation issues.
• Alexandria Hutchins (interior design), Mackenzie Wade (architecture) and Amanda Davidson (landscape architecture), who received Professional Advisory Board Scholarships. These are awarded to final-year students who exhibit hard work, perseverance, dedication and potential for success in the profession. Wade is also an Honors College student.

Notable recognition for architecture students included:

• Caleb Bertels, also an Honors College student, who received the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Henry Adams Medal. This is awarded to the first-ranked, final-year architecture student in recognition of scholastic achievement, character, leadership and promise of high professional ability.
• Caleb Bertels, also an Honors College student, who also received the Edward Durell Stone Medal. This is awarded to the final-year architecture student with the highest overall grade point average in design studio work.
• Caleb Bertels, also an Honors College student, who received the Barbara C. Crook Medal. This is awarded to the final-year student who has achieved the highest record in coursework in the architectural technology group.
• Anna Morris, also an Honors College student, who received the C. Murray Smart Medal. This is awarded to the final-year architecture student with the highest scholastic record in the study of history and theory of architecture.
• Hunter Crager and Rachel Rubis, who both received the Cyrus Sutherland Historic Preservation Alliance Scholarship Award. This is awarded to students who have demonstrated interest in historic preservation. This is the second year Crager and Rubis have received this award. Rubis is also an Honors College student.
• Benjamin Ebbesmeyer, Kayla Ho and Rachel Cruzan, who received the Northwest Section, Arkansas Chapter, AIA Scholarship. This is awarded to members of AIAS who have performed willing service to the school and its students. Ebbesmeyer, Ho and Cruzan are also Honors College students.

Notable recognition for landscape architecture students included:

• Jacob Costello, who received the American Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award, and Benjamin Magee, who received the ASLA Merit Award. These are awarded to landscape architecture students in the final two years of study with high academic performance, design ability, self-motivation and personal responsibility.
• Jacob Costello, who received the Verna C. Garvan Medal. This is awarded to the senior student of landscape architecture who, through performance in the studio sequence, has demonstrated outstanding design ability.
• Robert Buchanan, who received the Judy Byrd Brittenum Cultural Landscape Award. This is awarded to the student who demonstrates interest in the study of cultural landscapes including cultural sustainability, historic preservation, history and/or cultural landscape documentation.
• Samuel Hunter Adkisson, also an Honors College student, who received the Phillips Family Scholarship. This is awarded to a well-rounded student within the applications of landscape architecture.

Notable recognition for interior design students included:

• Abigail Redmon, who received the Interior Design Medal of Excellence. This is awarded to the first-ranked, final-year interior design student in recognition of scholastic achievement.
• Allison Preston, also an Honors College student, who received the Andrew A. Kinslow Interior Design Scholarship. This is awarded to a third- or fourth-year interior design student from Arkansas who is interested in commercial design and has a high grade point average. This was Preston's second time to receive this scholarship.
• Anna Arendt and Isabelle Troutman, who both received the Interior Design Foundation Scholarship. This is awarded to students who demonstrate academic achievement and show promise in the discipline. Arendt is also an Honors College student.
• Sloan Aulgur, also an Honors College student, who received the William Stephen Lair Design Scholarship. This is awarded to a rising second-, third- or fourth-year student who demonstrates high academic standards and shows academic promise. This was Aulgur's third time to receive the scholarship.

Also at the ceremony, Frank Jacobus, associate professor in the Department of Architecture and the 21st  Century Chair of Construction and Technology, received the Tau Sigma Delta Silver Medal. Erin Cox, a landscape architecture student and a member of the Honors College, received the Tau Sigma Delta Bronze Medal. These are awarded to a professional and a student with records of distinction in design in one of the subject arts.