The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design recently announced that 120 students will receive scholarships and other awards through its 2025 Honors and Awards Recognition program. This year, more than $288,000 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 11 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 identified by area of study. 

Multiple Discipline Awards

Olivia Everett (interior architecture and design) was named the Senior Scholar. This designation is for the graduating senior from the school with the highest grade-point average.

Dean Zakrzewski (landscape architecture) received the U of A Presidential Scholarship. This is awarded to the student with a high academic record in the school. Zakrzewski is also an Honors College student.

Sarah Myane (architecture) 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. Myane is also an Honors College student.

Olivia Dedmon (interior architecture and design) 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.

Joseph Hull (architecture) received the Michael J. Buono Sustainability Award. This is awarded to final-year student who has demonstrated the greatest concern in design studios, cognate courses and the community for environmental, ecological and energy conservation issues.

Kevin Estrada (architecture) 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.

Erin Dolan (landscape architecture), Catalina Rivera Estay (interior architecture and design) and Faith Hilvert (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. Dolan and Hilvert are also Honors College students.

Gunner Smith (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.

Margarita Torres (architecture) received the Leadership for Climate Action Design Endowment Scholarship, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising third-, fourth- or fifth-year architecture or interior architecture and design student who demonstrates design excellence in social and environmental issues.

Paige Savoy (interior architecture and design) received the Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects 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 architecture and design student and provides an opportunity for a paid summer internship.

Camilla Green (interior architecture and design) received the Cromwell Architects Engineers Endowed Scholarship for Excellence in Architecture. 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 received this award last year and is also an Honors College student.

Claire Sanders (architecture) received the Mimi and Jim Hugg Endowed Travel Award in Architecture and Design. 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.

Lyric Cooksey (architecture) received the Suzanne Lantz Award in Design, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year architecture or interior architecture and design student who demonstrates academic success.

Issac Dyer (landscape architecture) received the Tim LaTourette Endowed Scholarship, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year student who demonstrates excellence in hand-craft courses. 

Architecture Program Awards 

Emily Kloostra, 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.

Kloostra also received the Barbara C. Crook Award. This is awarded to the final-year student who has achieved the highest record in coursework in the architectural technology group.

Zairis Padilla and Keegan Schock received the C. Murray Smart Award. This is awarded to the final-year architecture students with the highest scholastic record in the study of history and theory of architecture. Padilla is also an Honors College student.

William Langston, also an Honors College student, received the Herbert K. Fowler Award. 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.

Jenna Bourgeois received the John G. Williams Joy of Architecture Award. 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.

Jacob Key, also an Honors College student, received the Mort Karp Award. 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.

Zack Badger, also an Honors College student, received the Doug and Melodie Hurley Endowment for Design Excellence and Professional Practice Scholarship, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising fourth- or fifth-year student and provides an opportunity for a paid summer internship with PB2 architecture and engineering firm.

Will Sutton, 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.

Darcia Burris, Thomas Fisher, Rory Jones and Whitley Raney received the Lillian H. McRae Endowed Scholarship in Architecture, a new award this year. This is awarded to rising fifth-year students who graduated from an Arkansas high school.

Rory Jones also 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.

Patrick Mush, also an Honors College student, 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.

Maya Haug, Kimber Steward, Pedro Robledo and Margarita Torres 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. Haug is also an Honors College student.

Adelin Higby received the Non-Traditional Student Support Award in Architecture, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising third-, fourth- and fifth-year student, with preference given to non-traditional students.

Erica Roman received the Gwendolyn and Bart Brown Travel Scholarship in Architecture. 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.

Grace Shoemaker received the Kim D. Reeve Endowed Award in Architecture. This is awarded to a rising fourth- or fifth-year student enrolled in the professional program in architecture. 

Landscape Architecture Program Awards 

Kara Simmons and Kelsey Vogel received ASLA Honor Awards, and Oliver Right and Elijah Williams 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 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.

Claire Perrault received the E. Lynn Miller Creative Writing Award. This is awarded to a student who demonstrates creative writing as it relates to landscape architecture.

Abigail McDonald, also a Honors College student, 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 

Olivia Everett received the Interior Architecture and Design Award of Excellence. This is awarded to the first-ranked, final-year interior architecture and design student in recognition of scholastic achievement.

Drew Gobbi, also an Honors College student, received the Interior Architecture and Design Award 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.

Eugenio Mendoza, also an Honors College student, received the Interior Architecture and Design Award 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.

Lydia Meharg received the Interior Architecture and Design Award for Sustainable Design. This is awarded to the final-year student who has demonstrated commitment to issues of sustainable design.

Melanie Ragsdale 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.

Jacob Dickman, Anne-Claire Hudgins and Audrey Swain received the Interior Architecture and Design Program Scholarship. This is awarded to students who demonstrate academic achievement and to support study abroad travel. Dickman is also an Honors College student.

Marilyn Chavez-Razo received the Bogue Louis Ebbrecht Award in Interior Architecture and Design. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year student who graduated from high school in Northwest Arkansas. Chavez-Razo also received this award last year.

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. This is the second year Garcia has received this award.