The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas is planning a host of events starting in 2021 that will honor the school's 75-year history and legacy, while celebrating the achievements of current faculty, students and alumni, and looking ahead to the promise of the future.

The Fay Jones School will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding during 2021-2022. A combination of virtual and in-person events will be held during this period. Due to COVID-19, many of the in-person events for this celebration will be held later in 2021 and in spring 2022.

In 2020, the school has lost two of its remaining alumni from the first class of architecture graduates. Ernie Jacks and Bob Laser graduated in 1950 with Fay Jones, Joseph Wilkinson and Chih Hsu. Jacks passed away Feb. 14, in Fayetteville, at age 94, and Laser passed away Dec. 4, in Fort Smith, also at age 94. Jacks later returned to the school as a longtime professor and administrator, serving as associate dean for 13 years.

"With the passing this year of Ernie Jacks and Bob Laser, graduates from our first class of architecture students in 1950, we feel that it's even more important to make this announcement now to our entire community," said Peter MacKeith, dean of the school. "Bob would have been our primary chairperson for these celebrations, and we carry our plans forward with him and Ernie on our minds and in our hearts. We will also be marking what would have been the 100th birthday of our namesake, Fay Jones, in January 2021. There is much to celebrate over the course of our 75 years, and in the current moment, but the year of events will also afford us the opportunity to look ahead to the longer future of the school. We have so many good stories to tell, from so many directions and locations, from our alumni and friends near and far, on the value of architecture and design in transforming lives, and we are eager to begin."

The school was founded by John G. Williams, who taught the first classes in the architecture program in the 1946-47 academic year. In the mid-1970s, the landscape architecture program was established, and the program became a school. The interior design program at the University of Arkansas originated in 1978 in the Department of Home Economics and eventually joined the Fay Jones School in 2010. The alumni of the school graduate from professional programs in architecture, landscape architecture and interior design, and studies programs in architecture and landscape architecture.

A few alumni shared their memories of their time at the U of A and perspectives on the impact of their architecture and design education.

"Through focus and pedagogical enlightenment, the School of Architecture was for me, and remains today, a place where circumstances were favorable to original ideas — not the molding of students to a predetermined ideology," said Jeff Scherer, who graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1971. "I am grateful that we were given the intellectual and practical tools to learn how to invent — not simply replicate something already proven. It was a privilege to be guided by humble and talented teachers committed to unlocking the courage to discover the best that I could become. We all know that the search for oneself is a fragile one — and requires a caring yet purposeful place for it to occur. The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design continues to be just such a place." Scherer, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, co-founded Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd Architects in 1981 in Minneapolis, Minnesota (now called MSR Design). He retired in the fall of 2016, and is an artist living in Portland, Oregon.

"The analysis, conceptualization, drawing skills and work ethic, as well as the personal guidance and kicks in the butt, I received from professors, prepared me for a career of planning and later design leadership at New York City Parks," said Charles McKinney, who graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1982. "I left school with prospects, aspirations to serve broader society, marketable skills and no debt. I have been drawn back to the activities of the school because of its success in teaching community design that addresses economic, social and ecological health; because of its focus on creating economic health for the state through the new innovation in wood technology; and because it is focused on addressing pressing problems. Now, nearly 75 years after its founding by John Williams, and under the deanship of Peter MacKeith, collaborative research and design thinking are in full flower, and the benefits of these skills to our state and nation are evident." McKinney retired in 2016 as the principal urban designer for New York City Parks, and he is a practical visionary for his own company, Estuaryone.

"As the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design turns 75 years old, my cherished aspirations and ambitions have been achieved by the school encompassing my childhood dreams and imaginations of becoming a graduate in architecture while creating lifelong friendships and relationships that continue to connect me to the school as I continue my journey in a fascinating career in design," said Earnest Duckery, Assoc. AIA, who is an associate and architectural associate at WDD Architects in Little Rock. He graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1995, and he serves as a board member of the Arkansas Alumni Association's Black Alumni Society.

"The greatest takeaway I have from being a student in the University of Arkansas' Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design is the discipline it instilled in me to persevere in life's challenges," said Kathleen Gonzalez, a data analyst for The Coca-Cola Company in Bentonville. "This school gave me the confidence to know how to ask for help when I needed, as well as problem-solving on my own when need be. Overall, I would say it has helped in every area of my life. It definitely helped build a strong, and confident character." Gonzalez graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architectural Studies from the Fay Jones School in 2011 and received a Master of Business Administration from John Brown University in 2018. She serves as a board member of the Arkansas Alumni Association.

"I am ever grateful for my time as an undergraduate architecture student at the University of Arkansas, where I came to know design as a civic act, design as a vehicle for serving those in need, and design as a serious method of understanding a complex and increasingly conflicted world," said Trinity Simons, Executive Director at the Mayors' Institute on City Design in Washington, D.C. "From this framework, I have found a life's work in passionately helping communities and their leaders discover about design what I did at the U of A." She graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture in 2004.

A committee of school alumni, faculty, staff and students are planning and coordinating the school's commemorative events and activities for its 75th anniversary. Many of these are still in the planning and development stages, however some signature events will include:

• Hosting an event to celebrate the gift of the family home of John G. Williams, who founded the architecture program at the U of A, from his daughter, Diana Sue Hein.
• Hosting an alumni gala event in fall 2021 for all architecture, landscape architecture and interior design graduates of the U of A.
• Announcing the school's Next Generation Alumni Project, an outreach and engagement initiative with alumni who graduated within the last 40 years - the majority of the school's alumni base.
• Recognizing the school's statewide impact and outreach through a special project.
• Dedicating the central entry on the east side of Vol Walker Hall in honor of Wali Caradine Jr., the first African American graduate of the Fay Jones School.

 In addition to recognizing and celebrating the 75th anniversary of the school, some events in early 2021 are focused on honoring the school's namesake. These events include:

• Marking the centennial of Fay Jones' birth in January by unveiling the Gold Medal awarded to Jones by the American Institute of Architects in 1990.
• Announcing the publication of the third edition of the Fay Jones monograph, with a new forward from Robert Ivy.