Oklahoma State University will host the 2012 Biannual Conference of the Design Communication Association from October 21-24, 2012. The conference theme is Graphic Quest: the Search for Perfection in Design Communication. For more information contact the conference chair, Professor Moh’d Bilbeisi (mohd.bilbeisi@okstate.edu) or visit www.designcommunicationassociation.org.

Oklahoma State University’s new Donald W. Reynolds School of Architecture Building received a 2011 AIA Oklahoma Honor Award. The design was a collaboration of OSU School of Architecture faculty and students and Studio Architecture of Oklahoma City. Professors Jeff Williams and Randy Seitsinger led the design process initially, while Williams continued to work with Studio Architecture and other consultants through completion. Associate Professor Khaled Mansy assisted with the design of the day-lighting systems.

Michael Rabens was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure in 2011. Rabens teaches a variety of architectural history and theory courses. His research interests focus on the architecture of 17th- and 18th-century France and 19th- and 20th-century Chicago.

Assistant Professor Jerry Stivers and Assistant Professor Awilda Rodríguez Carrión were recently awarded the Big 12 Faculty Fellowships for the 2012 term.  Both are investigating aspects of Revit integration and applications within the curriculum.  Stivers will be visiting the University of Kansas and Kansas State University; Rodríguez Carrión will be visiting Texas A&M University.

OSU School of Architecture Associate Professor Paolo Sanza, Assistant Professor Awilda Rodríguez Carrión, and alumnus Gloriana Barbosa were runners up in the international Ceramics of Italy Exhibit Design Competition, among 80 entries. The judges were Bernard Tschumi, Laurinda Spears, and Michael P. Johnson.

Associate Professor Tom Spector has completed work with co-author Rebecca Damron on the book How Architects Write, a handbook for students and practitioners wishing to improve their writing, for the Routledge Press. Spector will be chairing a session for the first conference of the ISPA (the International Society for Philosophy in Architecture) to be held at the University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, July 10-12, 2012. For more information about the conference, see www.isparchitecture.wordpress.com/.

Associate Professor Khaled Mansy returned from his fall 2011 sabbatical. In his sabbatical he conducted two research projects in Cairo, Egypt and Chicago, Illinois. In Cairo, he collaborated with a research team of faculty and graduate students from the American University in Cairo (UIC) to study the performance of light wells as required by the Egyptian Building Code. In Chicago, he was hosted by the Illinois Institute of Technology and interviewed architects and engineers of leading design firms documenting the most current practice in the design of high-performing buildings.

Professor Jeff Williams also returned from his fall 2011 sabbatical. He explored the integration of urban issues in curriculums within schools of architecture throughout the western United States. He studied thirty-six schools of architecture and visited fourteen. A website documenting the sabbatical research is forthcoming.