Design Students Receive Scholarships, Awards at Fay Jones School's 2022 Honors Ceremony

Whit Pruitt

Dean Peter MacKeith, along with Ken and Liz Allen, stands with some of the 15 student recipients of the Ken and Liz Allen Award in Design, a new award this year in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design's Honors and Awards Recognition program.

The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design recently announced that nearly 90 students will receive scholarships and other awards through its 2022 Honors and Awards Recognition program. This year, more than $270,000 — a 50 percent increase in monetary awards from 2021 — was handed out through scholarships that recognized various aspects of achievement among architecture, landscape architecture and interior design students. The school hosted an Honors Recognition Reception and Ceremony on April 22 in Vol Walker Hall to celebrate these honorees.

"The Fay Jones School is committed to making its design education programs of study both affordable and accessible," said Peter MacKeith, dean of the school, "and the ever-growing scholarship funds available to our students demonstrate this ongoing effort. Our students are talented, hard-working and dedicated, and the generosity of our numerous donors and benefactors allows us to recognize that excellence in ever greater numbers. Congratulations to all our student scholarship recipients and awardees, and special thanks to our many donors and friends."

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:

• Benjamin Ebbesmeyer and Matthew Wilson, both architecture and Honors College students, who were named the Senior Scholars. This designation is for the graduating seniors from the school with the highest grade point average.
• Jared Davenport, an architecture and Honors College student who received the U of A Presidential Scholarship. This is awarded to the student with a high academic record in the school.
• Grace Shoemaker (architecture), Julie DePetris (interior design) and Kara Simmons (landscape architecture), who received the Pryor Award for Leadership in Architecture and Design. This is awarded to rising second-year students who display superior commitment, thoughtfulness and leadership vision in the school and university, given in honor of Sen. David Pryor of Arkansas.
• Kayla Ho, an architecture and Honors College student who received the Alpha Rho Chi Medal. This is awarded to a final-year student who has shown leadership ability, performed willing service for the school and demonstrated promise of professional merit through attitude and personality.
• Isabel Provisor Lemery, an interior design and Honors College student, and Kaden Catalano, 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.
• Lillyan Priest, a landscape architecture student who received the Michael J. Buono Sustainability Medal. This is awarded to final-year students who have demonstrated the greatest concern in design studios, cognate courses and the community for environmental, ecological and energy conservation issues.
• Riku Suzuki (interior design), Noah Berg (architecture) and Rebekah Crowley (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. Berg is also an Honors College student.
• Enelyn Hernandez, an architecture student who received the Robert B. Norcross Endowed Scholarship in Design Excellence, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year architecture or interior design student, with preference given to first-generation students from Arkansas or Tennessee.
• Hunter Waters, a landscape architecture student who received the Peter L. Schaudt Memorial Scholarship for Collaborative Design, a new award this year. This is awarded to an architecture or landscape architecture student entering their fourth or fifth year.
• Eugenio Mendoza, an interior design student who received the Andrew A. Kinslow and Russell W. Kirkpatrick Diversity Award for Design Excellence, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year student who demonstrates commitment to diversity and inclusion.
• Ann-Wesley Banks (interior design), Eva Bwiza (architecture), Chad Chamberlain (landscape architecture), Emily Chastain (interior design), Jason Cote (interior design), Rebekah Crowley (landscape architecture), Raquel Gamboa (architecture), Sofia Hickey (interior design), Medy Kepnga (architecture), Matthew King (landscape architecture and Honors College), Jesse Light (landscape architecture), Maria Longo (architecture), Jennifer Martinez (architecture), Eugenio Mendoza (interior design) and Fiorella Sibaja (landscape architecture), who received the Ken and Liz Allen Award in Design, a new award this year. This is awarded to students with demonstrated need.

Notable recognition for architecture students included:

• Benjamin Ebbesmeyer, also an Honors College student, who received the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Medal for Academic Excellence. This is awarded to the first-ranked, final-year architecture student in recognition of scholastic achievement, character, leadership and promise of high professional ability.
• Matthew Wilson, also an Honors College student, who 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.
• Hannah Gray, 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.
• Gabriel De Souza Silva, 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.
• Nate Cole, also an Honors College student, who received the Cyrus Sutherland Historic Preservation Alliance Scholarship Award. This is awarded to a student who has demonstrated interest in historic preservation.
• Alexander White, also an Honors College student, who received the Magar Family Award in Design, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising third-, fourth- or fifth-year architecture student, with preference given to non-traditional students.

Notable recognition for landscape architecture students included:

• Winifred Vanlandingham, 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.
• Rebekah Crowley, 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.
• Emily Booth, 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:

• Megan Paul, also an Honors College student, 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.
• Madison Shell, 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.
• Ally Lemons, Lacey Oxford and Isabel Provisor Lemery, who received the Interior Design Foundation Scholarship. This is awarded to students who demonstrate academic achievement and show promise in the discipline. Oxford and Provisor Lemery are also Honors College students.
• Angelica Williams, 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.