Design Students Receive Scholarships, Awards at Fay Jones School's 2026 Honors Ceremony

The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design recently announced that 109 students will receive scholarships and other awards through its 2026 Honors and Awards Recognition program. This year, nearly $400,000 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 9 in Vol Walker Hall to celebrate these honorees.

"The Honors Ceremony is the school's annual opportunity to shine a deserved light on the outstanding caliber of our students, and the generosity that supports so much good work across our programs and departments," said Carl Smith, associate dean for faculty development in the Fay Jones School. "Equally, it's a venue where we learn a little about the stories that entwine our friends, donors and benefactors with the school's commitment to student success. Behind every award, recognition and scholarship, there is a profound human story of generosity, nurturing and belief in the transformative power of design education."  

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

Dean Zakrzewski (landscape architecture) was named the Senior Scholar. This designation is for the graduating senior from the school with the highest grade-point average. Zakrzewski is also an Honors College student.

Genevieve Brainard (interior architecture and design) received the U of A Presidential Scholarship. This is awarded to the student with a high academic record in the school. Brainard is also an Honors College student. 

Rylee Ball (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. Ball is also an Honors College student.

Genevieve Brainard (interior architecture and design) received the Harrison French and Associates 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. Brainard is also an Honors College student.

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

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.

Bhavi Patel (architecture), Briley Combs (interior architecture and design), and McKenna Lessenger (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. Patel is also an Honors College Student.

Luzmia Martinez (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.

Christopher Roy (architecture) received the Leadership for Climate Action Design Endowment Scholarship. 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.

Piper Berry (interior architecture and design) received the Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects Endowed Scholarship in Design Excellence. 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. Berry is also an Honors College student.

Paige Wyatt (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.

Rebekah Ulasewich (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. Ulasewich is also an Honors College student.

Bailey Bruns (interior architecture and design) received the Suzanne Lantz Award in Design. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year architecture or interior architecture and design student who demonstrates academic success. Bruns is also an Honors College student.

Marilyn Chavez Razo (interior architecture and design) received the Tim LaTourette Endowed Scholarship. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year student who demonstrates excellence in hand-craft courses.

Architecture Program Awards

Wendi Martinez received the AIA Arkansas Endowed Scholarship for Architecture Excellence, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year student who is a member of AIAS.

Will Sutton, 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.

Darci Burris 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.

Grace Shoemaker 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.

Caleb Cole, 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.

John Blake 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.

Zach Badger 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.

Kimber Stewart received the Doug and Melodie Hurley Endowment for Design Excellence and Professional Practice Scholarship. 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.

Kami Hulbert 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.

Zach Badger and Rebekah Ulasewich received the Lillian H. McRae Endowed Scholarship in Architecture. This is awarded to rising fifth-year students who graduated from an Arkansas high school. Ulasewich is also an Honors College student.

Taygan Brooks 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. Mush also received this award last year.

Camilla Enderli, Nicole Markis, Kimber Stewart and Pedro Robledo 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.

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

Chloe Balkcom, also an Honors College student, received the Bradford K. Shapiro Endowed Scholarship in Architecture and Design, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year student enrolled in the professional program of architecture. 

Tanner Hamilton received the Dalrymple/Sallis Architecture Endowed Scholarship in Architecture and Design, a new award this year. This is awarded to a rising second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-year student enrolled in the professional program of architecture.

Landscape Architecture Program Awards

Ana Barnett and Erin Dolan received ASLA Honor 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.

Colin Barker 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.

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

Drew Pehlman, also an 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.

Ty Demmelmaier and Michah Winslow received the Landscape Architecture General Scholarship Fund, a new award this year. This is awarded to students in the landscape architecture program.

Sara Svennson received the Verna C. Garvan Award. This is awarded to a senior student of landscape architecture who, through performance in the studio sequence, has demonstrated outstanding design ability.

Interior Architecture and Design Program Awards

Claire Callaway 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.

Halley Garcia, 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.

Lindsay Deramus 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.

Rebecca Casco Martinez, Brayden Ratliff, and Alivia Saenz received the Interior Architecture and Design Program Scholarship. This is awarded to students who demonstrate academic achievement, to support study abroad travel.

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.

Rebecca Scheiderer 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.