Design Students Receive Scholarships, Awards at Fay Jones School's 2024 Honors Ceremony

Chieko Hara

The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design held its 2024 Honors Recognition Reception and Ceremony on April 12 in Vol Walker Hall on the U of A campus. More than $256,000 in scholarships and awards were handed out, and 120 students were honored.

The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design recently announced that 120 students will receive scholarships and other awards through its 2024 Honors and Awards Recognition program. This year, more than $256,000 was handed out through scholarships and awards that recognized various aspects of achievement among architecture, landscape architecture, and interior architecture and design students. The school hosted an Honors Recognition Reception and Ceremony on April 12 in Vol Walker Hall to celebrate these honorees.

"Congratulations to all our scholarship and award recipients!" said Peter MacKeith, dean of the school. "This year's ceremony was particularly rewarding given the sustained giving over many years by so many donors and by virtue of the many new scholarships that continue to arrive to the school. On behalf of the school, and particularly our students, I want to express my profound gratitude to our many friends, donors and benefactors for their generosity and their support of our students and our overall emphasis on student success."

Many honors were awarded under each of the three departments and the graduate program, while some honors were available to any student within the school. Some students received multiple honors. Below are several notable recognitions grouped by area of study.

Multiple Discipline Awards

• Jared Davenport (architecture) and Morgan Clupka (interior architecture and design) were named the Senior Scholars. This designation is for the graduating seniors from the school with the highest grade point average. Davenport is also an Honors College student.
• Olivia Everett, an interior architecture and design student, received the U of A Presidential Scholarship. This is awarded to the student with a high academic record in the school.
• Caden Bent (architecture), Melanie Ragsdell (interior architecture and design) and Brianna Reynolds (landscape architecture) 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 the late Sen. David Pryor of Arkansas. Bent and Reynolds are also Honors College students.
• Kerrigan Servati, an architecture student, 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. Servati is also an Honors College student.
• Kaden Catalano, an architecture student, received the HFA Designing with Technology Scholarship. This is awarded to a rising third-, fourth- or fifth-year student who demonstrates the use and integration of technology in architectural and interior design through use of illustration, planning and design.
• Tristan Lewis, a landscape architecture student, 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.
• Israel Zamorano, an architecture student, received the Taggart Architects Advance Arkansas Endowed Scholarship in Memory of Jerry E. Currence. This is awarded to a first-generation Arkansas student who demonstrates academic success.
• Casey Snyder (architecture), Alexandra Costley (interior architecture and design) and Sophia Bobzien (landscape architecture) received Dean's Circle Diamond Endowment scholarships. These are awarded to rising third-year students who are members of one of the school's student organizations. Snyder and Bobzien are also Honors College students.
• Brianna Reynolds, a landscape architecture student, received Studio Main's Endowed Award in Design Excellence. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year student who graduated from a high school located in the Arkansas Delta. Reynolds is also an Honors College student.
• Eugenio Mendoza Jr., an interior architecture and design student, received the Andrew A. Kinslow and Russell W. Kirkpatrick Diversity Award for Design Excellence. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year student who demonstrates commitment to diversity and inclusion. Mendoza is also an Honors College student.
• Camilla Green, an interior architecture and design student, received the Cromwell Architects Engineers Endowed Scholarship for Excellence in Architecture, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year architecture or interior architecture and design student with preference given to students who graduated from high school in Central Arkansas. Green is also an Honors College student.
• Julia Rose, an architecture student, received the Mimi and Jim Hugg Endowed Travel Award in Architecture and Design, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising fourth- or fifth-year student who graduated from a high school in Central Arkansas, to assist with the Rome study abroad semester.

Master of Design Studies Program Awards

• Matthew Findlay received the Clark Family Endowed Scholarship in Timber and Wood Design. This award provides financial assistance to students enrolled in the Master of Design Studies degree program who are pursuing a concentration in integrated wood design. Funds may support tuition, research and study abroad.
• Lori Filbeck received the W.L. Cook II Historic Preservation Fund scholarship. This is awarded to support historic perseveration at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, including the award of academic scholarship.

Architecture Program Awards

• Jared Davenport, also an Honors College student, 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.
• Davenport, also an Honors College student, and Andrew Verkler 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.
• Maddox Townsend, also an Honors College student, 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.
• Caitlyn Reilly received the Herbert K. Fowler Medal. This is awarded to a third-, fourth- or fifth-year architecture student who demonstrates outstanding hand drawing skills, excellent conceptualization of interior spaces and volumes, especially as they relate to human interaction, and successfully incorporates classic principles of proportion and balance into the design of modern architecture.
• Virginia Hammond, also an Honors College student, received the John G. Williams Joy of Architecture Medal. This is awarded to a graduating senior who exhibits a devotion to the profession and a positive work ethic, and who demonstrates promise of professional success.
• Sarah Halldorson, also an Honors College student, received the Mort Karp Medal. This is awarded to the fifth-year architecture student who has demonstrated the greatest concern for social, cultural and behavioral issues as they relate to design.
• Emily Kloostra, also an Honors College student, received the Howard S. Eichenbaum & Frank J. Erhart Memorial Scholarship. This is awarded to the architecture student with the highest scholastic average entering the final year of professional training.
• Olivia Everett received the Cyrus Sutherland Historic Preservation Alliance Scholarship Award. This is awarded to a student in the architecture or the architectural studies program who has demonstrated an interest in historic preservation.
• Rodrigo Sanchez Tenorio received the AIA Arkansas Fort Smith Section Michael Lewis Lejong Award in Architecture. This is awarded to a third-, fourth- or fifth-year student from Fort Smith or the surrounding area.
• Kimber Stewart, Pedro Robledo, Margarita Torres and Israel Zamarano received the Mitchell Park Scholarship in Architecture. This is awarded to rising second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-year students who show commitment to diversity in the field of architecture.
• Hailey Pease received the Gwendolyn and Bart Brown Travel Scholarship in Architecture, a new award this year. This is awarded to a fourth- or fifth-year student who graduated high school from Benton County, to be used for one of the approved study abroad programs.
• Alexandra Gray received the Kim D. Reeve Endowed Award in Architecture, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising fourth- or fifth-year student enrolled in the professional program in architecture.

Landscape Architecture Program Awards

• Elizabeth Corbitt, also an Honors College student, and Fiorella Sibaja received ASLA Honor Awards, and Kaiden Couffer and Ava McMoran received ASLA Merit Awards. 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.
• Dean Zakrewski, also an Honors College student, received the Judy Byrd Brittenum Cultural Landscape Award. This is awarded to a student who demonstrates interest in the study of cultural landscapes including cultural sustainability, historic preservation, history and/or cultural landscape documentation.
• Sophia Bobzien, also an Honors College student, received the E. Lynn Miller Creative Writing Award. This is awarded to a student who demonstrates creative writing as it relates to landscape architecture.
• Kara Simmons received the Flower, Garden and Nature Society of Northwest Arkansas Book Award. This is awarded to a landscape architecture student who, through studio work, demonstrates an interest in and commitment to sustainability through the use of planting design and specification.

Interior Architecture and Design Program Awards

• Morgan Clupka received the Interior Architecture and Design Medal of Excellence. This is awarded to the first-ranked, final-year interior architecture and design student in recognition of scholastic achievement.
• Kristin Rapach, also an Honors College student, received the Interior Architecture and Design Medal for Excellence in Material Exploration. This is awarded to a final-year interior architecture and design student who has demonstrated curiosity, research capabilities, creativity and sophisticated application of materials in studio design projects.
• Lacey Oxford, also an Honors College student, received the Interior Architecture and Design Medal for Advocacy Through Design. This is awarded to the final-year student who has demonstrated passion for advocacy of underrepresented groups through design and research.
• Sophie Forrer received the Interior Architecture and Design Medal for Sustainable Design. This is awarded to the final-year student who has demonstrated commitment to issues of sustainable design.
• Itzel Garcia received the Andrew A. Kinslow Interior Design Scholarship. This is awarded to a third- or fourth-year interior architecture and design student from Arkansas who is interested in commercial design and has a high grade point average.
• Halley Garcia, also an Honors College student, received the Interior Design Foundation Scholarship. This is awarded to students who demonstrate academic achievement and show promise in the discipline.
• Brandi Meredith and Laura Misenheimer received the Interior Architecture and Design Program Scholarship. This is awarded to students who demonstrate academic achievement and to support study abroad travel.
• Marilyn Chavez-Razo received the Bogue Louis Ebbrecht Award in Interior Architecture and Design, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year student who graduated from high school in Northwest Arkansas.
• Halley Garcia 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.