Recognition Day for the School of Architecture was scheduled for April 30, 2020 in the Robert and Freda Harrison Auditorium in Giles Hall.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the school had to make the unprecedented decision to cancel the in-person ceremony and move to an online recognition.
A message from the Dean of the College of Architecture, Art and Design:
A message from the School of Architecture's Interim Director:
A message from the School of Architecture's Director Emeritus:
A message from the CEO of the American Institute of Architects:
Robert Ivy serves on the Advisory Board for the School of Architecture.
2019-2020 School of Architecture awards:
Annual Allen & Hoshall Faculty Award
Recipient: Professor Mark Vaughan
The architectural firm of Allen & Hoshall of Jackson, Mississippi, has established a $500 annual award to a faculty member “who has demonstrated excellence in teaching.” The award winners are selected by the fifth-year graduating class.
Tau Sigma Delta Honor Society (TSD)
Chapter President: Mariah Green
Faculty Advisors: Professor Hans Herrmann and Dr. Christopher S. Hunter
Tau Sigma Delta is the architectural (and allied programs) honor society open to top academic students in design disciplines. Induction does not occur until the student consistently demonstrates high academic standards and is in the third-year.
TSD Initiates:
- Brandon Burton
- Caley Watts
- Grace Sheridan
- John Spraberry
- Matthew Churchill
- Nada Abdel-Aziz
- Spurgeon Sanders
- Trent Little
- Victoria Harrington
- William Jordan
TSD Fifth-Year Graduates:
- Tony Coleman
- Abby Jackson
- Daniel Wikoff
- Trey Box
- Asher Paxton
TSD Faculty/Staff Book Award
Recipient: Professor Alexis Gregory
The TSD Faculty/Staff Book Award is presented by the third- and fourth-year
members to the faculty/staff member who has inspired them to excellence.
TSD Book Award
Recipient: Victoria Harrington
For the TSD Book Award, the membership selects a newly inducted third-year student who embodies academic excellence and exemplary organizational engagement with efforts such as Friday Forum, the Harrison Lecture Series, and Charlotte and Richard McNeel Gallery Exhibitions.
National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS)
Chapter President: Jasmine Topps
Faculty Advisors: Professor Silvina Lopez Barrera and Dr. Christopher S. Hunter
National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS) is the student arm of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). Students participating seek to enhance the educational experience of its members by fostering diversity within the School of Architecture and the community at-large.
The 2020 NOMAS Diversity Award
Recipient: Jasmine Topps
Chosen by the NOMAS membership, the NOMAS Diversity Award is given to a student who has shown outstanding initiative and leadership in promoting diversity within the School and the larger community.
Alpha Rho Chi (APX)
Chapter President: Will Jordan
Faculty Advisor: Professor Jacob Gines
Alpha Rho Chi is the only national co-ed professional/social fraternity for architecture and the allied arts. MSU’s Hippodamus chapter includes members representing architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and engineering. Their mission is academic excellence, and the group focuses on leadership, mentoring and professionalism.
Alpha Rho Chi Student Book Award
Recipient: Asher Paxton
The Alpha Rho Chi student book award is given to a graduating fifth-year architecture student who is an active member of Alpha Rho Chi who has furthered the mission of the fraternity through service.
American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS)
Chapter President: McKenzie Johnson
Faculty Advisor: Professor Alexis Gregory
American Institute of Architecture Students is the student counterpart of the American Institute of Architects. The chapter works closely with professional architects in the state through the Mississippi Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
AIAS Member of the Year Award
Recipients: Nada Abdel-Aziz and Pace Dempsey
The recipient of the AIAS Award is chosen by the AIAS membership. The qualifications for this award are: “…that the student goes above and beyond what has been asked of him/her; has shown initiative and leadership qualities; has been an AIAS leader within his/her year level; and does well academically.”
First-Year Faculty Book Award
Studio Coordinator: Professor Silvina Lopez Barrera
Recipient: Jared Woullard
This award is a book selected by the first-year faculty and is presented to a first-year student selected on the basis of ‘design excellence’.
Second-Year Faculty Book Award
Studio Coordinator: Professor Duane McLemore
Recipient: Jon Zeipen
This award is a book selected by the second-year faculty and is presented to a second-year student selected on the basis of ‘design excellence’.
Third-Year Faculty Book Award
Studio Coordinator: Professor Alexis Gregory
Recipients: Matthew Churchill and Spurgeon Sanders
This award is a book selected by the third-year faculty and is presented to a third-year student/s selected on the basis of ‘design excellence’.
Fourth-Year Faculty Book Award
Studio Coordinator: Professor Jacob Gines
Recipient: Avery Harmon
This award is a book selected by the fourth-year faculty and is presented to a fourth-
year student/s selected on the basis of ‘design excellence’.
Mississippi Forestry Association Mass Timber Award
First Place: Olivia Baker
Second Place: O’Ryan Hooker
Third Place: Rory Fitzpatrick
Honorable Mentions: Kaitlyn Breland, McKenzie Johnson, Caleb Shaw
The Mississippi Forestry Association Mass Timber Awards are selected by MFA Executive Board Members to recognize exceptional and innovative uses of mass timber within the 4th-year capstone studio.
ARCC King Award
Recipient: Sarah Hoing
Selection for this award is made by the entire faculty. Named in honor of the late Jonathan King, co-founder and first president of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC), this award is presented to one student per ARCC-member school. Selection of the recipient is based upon criteria that acknowledge innovation, integrity, and scholarship in architectural and/or environmental design research.
Fifth-Year Jurists’ Awards
Recipients: Rayce Belton, Trey Box, Asher Paxton
The Jurists’ Award, a book award, is conferred by the fifth-year design faculty upon the student(s) who has achieved the greatest personal growth as a designer and whose work has contributed to the overall success of the fifth-year Design Studio.
Academic Achievement Award
Recipient: Tony Coleman
The Academic Achievement Award is a book award presented to the graduating fifth-year student who has the highest cumulative MSU grade point average.
CDFL Capstone Studio Travel Award
First Place: Jacob Turner ($1,000)
Second Place: Amanda Kotecki ($500)
Funds from Cooke Douglass Farr Lemons Architects + Engineers (CDFL)’s $5,000 fifth-year, capstone studio sponsorship were used to support the studio in areas of need and provided support for prominent external project reviewers as well as two cash awards for student travel.
Alpha Rho Chi Medal
Recipient: Damion Hardy
The Alpha Rho Chi Medal is awarded to the graduating fifth-year student who has shown an ability for leadership, performed willing service for the school, and gives promise of professional merit through attitude and personality. The medal is offered each year to every NAAB fully accredited school of architecture. The recipient is chosen by the entire faculty of the school.
AIA Henry Adams Medal
Medal Recipient: Tony Coleman
Sponsored by the American Institute of Architects, the AIA Henry Adams Medal is considered to be the most important award given to graduating students. It is awarded for “general excellence in architecture” throughout the course of study. The medal is awarded to the most qualified student, and selection is made by the entire faculty.
Other Notable Student Awards, 2019-2020
Aydelott Travel Award
Nada Abdel-Aziz
A $2.4 million endowment – established by the late Alfred Lewis Aydelott, FAIA, and his wife, Hope Galloway Aydelott – provides a $20,000 award each year to four architecture students currently enrolled in the professional architecture degree programs at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; Auburn University; Mississippi State University; and the University of Tennessee. Nada plans to study how architecture can draw from place and its reciprocal relationship – how architecture can reveal and amplify the spirit of a place. She plans to study the Woodland Cemetery in Stockholm, Sweden, by Erik Gunner Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz; New Gourna Village in Luxor, Egypt, by Hassan Fathy; Castelvecchio Museum in Verona, Italy, by Carlo Scarpa; and Water Temple in Hyogo, Japan, by Tadao Ando. Her faculty mentor is Associate Professor Hans Herrmann.
Trussel Travel Award
John D. Spraberry
The Trussel Travel Award (funded by alumnus Ted T. Porter) is awarded to the second-place recipient of the Aydelott Travel Award. The award provides $5,000 for student travel. John's proposal was in support of his research into how urban river fronts might be used for flood mitigation. Spraberry plans to look specifically at three buildings: Silodam by MVRDV in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; the Central Market Complex by Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana, Slovenia; and Niederhafen Promenade by Zaha Hadid Architects in Hamburg, Germany.
National Concrete Masonry Association Unit Design Competition
“The Slant” Team: Kayla C. Perez, Grace M. Sheridan, and Joseph D. Thompson
A custom brick project designed by three Mississippi State architecture students won second place in the National Unit Design Competition. The team presented their project at the National Concrete Masonry Association Midyear Meeting in Seattle, Washington. Work was completed in the spring 2018 ARC 2723 Materials course under the guidance of Associate Professor Jacob Gines.
Method Studio Undergraduate Research Fellows
Fall 2019: Grace Sheridan; Spring 2020: John Spraberry
Method Studio Research Fellows receive a stipend award and work on research during the semester for the Method Studio under the guidance of Associate Professor Jacob Gines.
Association for Retired Faculty (ARF) William L. Giles Award
for Excellence in Architecture
Mariah Green
This $500 award was established in 1997 in honor and memory of William Lincoln Giles, a charter member of ARF. It is given each year to a student selected by the School of Architecture on the basis of academic excellence and overall leadership within the school. Funding for the award comes from a contribution by Ms. Hazel Presson, aunt of Ginger Giles Jones, Dr. Giles’ daughter.
Burris Wagnon Study Abroad Travel Award
Rayce Belton, Blake Farrar, Jessi Hines, Baleigh Hull, Abby Jackson
Bill Burris and Stan Wagnon, principals of Burris/Wagon Architects, P.A., established the Burris Wagnon Study Abroad Travel Award to fulfill a desire to assist students traveling abroad to experience architecture. Candidates for the $500 award were fifth-year architecture students in good standing who demonstrated an interest in architectural history and theory coursework.
Herrington Architects Student Design Capstone Award
Mariah Green, Jacob Haasl, Jose Solorzano, Hannah Strider
This $2,000 ($500 each) award is selected by an outside Jury Committee, including Bruce Herrington and Tim Nichols, to recognize exceptional design work among 4th-year students.
Harrison Lecture and Aydelott Exhibit
Sarah Hoing
Sarah Hoing was invited to present a 2020 Harrison Lecture. Hoing presented her research resulting from travel funded by the 2019 Aydelott Travel Award. Her research was guided by her mentor, Associate Professor Hans Herrmann.
2020-2021 Scholarships
Mockbee Hall & Drake Annual Scholarship
($2,000 each) Olivia Baker, Madison Holbrook, Meredith Hutto, Danielle Leclercq, and Hannah Strider
Applicants must be: entering the fifth-year design studio in the School of Architecture; have a minimum grade point average of 3.0; be of good moral character; and have demonstrated leadership ability.
Rowan Taylor Endowed Scholarship
($1,250) Allie Middleton
Applicants must be entering the fifth year of architectural study within the school; have maintained a minimum MSU 3.0 GPA; have demonstrated exceptional design work and ability to achieve exceptional design; and have demonstrated financial need.
Charles H. Dean, Jr. Annual Memorial Scholarship
($1,000) Danielle Leclercq
Any full-time MSU students in their third- through fifth-year of design studio may apply. Applicants must be Mississippi residents and can demonstrate financial need.
Eley Guild Hardy Architecture Endowed Scholarship
($1,000) Danielle Leclercq
In May 2007, Taylor Guild III and David Hardy established this scholarship to assist talented students in their fifth-year of study in the architecture program.
Lyndall Gail Wood Memorial Scholarship
($1,000) Caley Watts
This scholarship was established by the Wood family to honor Lyndall Gail’s passion as an MSU architecture student. Applicants must be full-time students entering the fourth-year design studio in the School of Architecture, be in excellent academic standing with the university, and be a student with exceptional design ability.
Stephanie Mihojevich Pizzetta Endowed Scholarship
($1,000 each) William Mauro and Caley Watts
Candidates must be full-time students; have completed their second-year in the School of Architecture; have a minimum 3.0 GPA; and can demonstrate financial need.
Stephanie Mihojevich Pizzetta Annual Scholarship
($1,000) Jeffrey Janes
Candidates must be full-time students; have completed their second-year in the School of Architecture; have a minimum 3.0 GPA; and can demonstrate financial need.
Pryor & Morrow Annual Scholarship
($500 each) Danielle Leclercq, Jeffrey Janes, and Caley Watts
Any full-time MSU students in their second- through fifth-year of design studio may apply. Students must be Mississippi residents and can demonstrate financial need.
Angelo “Pops” Primos Computer Scholarship
(software) Bryant Baugus, Anna Criswell, Jennifer Hutton, Lita Li, Jessica Ninnis, Grace Owens,
Sylar Sloan, and Jared Woullard
Applicants must be full-time MSU students entering the second-year design studio in the School of Architecture; and can demonstrate financial need.
Boral Bricks Inc. Annual Scholarship
($325) Evelyn Ramirez
Applicants must be majoring in Building Construction Science or Architecture, have a minimum 3.0 GPA, and be an entering freshman.
Class of 2020
Rayce Curry Belton
American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS)
AIAS Vice President, 2016-2017
AIAS Fundraising Chair, 2017-2018
Employed: Technical Designer, Gensler Dallas
Charles Edwin "Trey" Box III
Alpha Rho Chi (APX)
Tau Sigma Delta (TSD)
TSD Officer, 2018-2019
Director's Council
Employed: Intern Architect, Duvall Decker Architects, PA
Davis Linzy Byars
Laura Kalyn Cole
Employed: Dale Partners
Tony Darnell Coleman
Tau Sigma Delta (TSD)
TSD President, 2018-2019
Director's Council
Employed: Intern Architect, Seay Seay & Litchfield Architects
Wesley Cordell "Cord" Crenshaw
Employed: Belinda Stewart Architects
Jeremy "Blake" Farrar
Employed: Intern Architect, McCarty Architects
Damion Savon Hardy
American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS)
National Society of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS)
NOMAS President, 2017-2018
NOMAS President, 2018-2019
Director's Council
Jessica "Jessi" Renae Hines
Dean's Council
Employed: Architectural Associate, Fleming Architects
Matthew Charles Hudgins
Baleigh Alyssa Hull
Alpha Rho Chi (APX)
Audrey Abigail "Abby" Jackson
Tau Sigma Delta (TSD)
Director's Council
Dean's Council
Austin Lee Keaton
Amanda Carole Kotecki
Alpha Rho Chi (APX)
Employed: Design Professional, brg3s
Evan Stocker McElrath
Employed: LS3P Associates
Christopher "Kyle" Murphy
Employed: Intern Architect, Dale Partners Architects
Asher Evans Paxton
American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS)
Alpha Rho Chi (APX)
APX President, 2017-2018
APX Treasurer, 2016-2017
APX Convention Delegate, 2019
Tau Sigma Delta (TSD)
Director's Council
Employed: Intern Architect / ESa
Robert Albert Scott
American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS)
Jordan Xavier Smith
National Society of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS)
NOMAS Treasurer, 2017 - 2018
NOMAS Vice President, 2018 - 2019
Jacob Nathaniel Turner
Alpha Rho Chi (APX)
Employed: Architectural Associate, ANF Architects
Charles Robinson "Rob" Warlick
Daniel Gerard Wikoff
Tau Sigma Delta (TSD)
TSD Gallery coordinator/curator, 2018-2019