Study Architecture 
ProPEL Faculty Recognized for Excellence
in Architectural Education
For Immediate Release:
Washington D.C., January 22, 2025 – The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) announces the recipients of the 2025 Architectural Education Awards, which honor architectural educators for exemplary work in areas such as building design, community collaborations, scholarship, and service. The award-winning professors inspire and challenge students, contribute to the profession’s knowledge base, and extend their work beyond the borders of academia into practice and the public sector.
This year’s recipients are:
AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion
Awarded to an individual who has had a significant impact on architectural education and the discipline and practice of architecture.
Thomas Fisher | University of Minnesota
Distinguished Professor Award
Recognizes individuals that have had a positive, stimulating, and nurturing influence upon students.
Julian Bonder | Roger Williams University
Katsuhiko Muramoto | Pennsylvania State University
Douglas E. Noble | University of Southern California
Teresa Rosano | University of Arizona
Mitchell Squire | Iowa State University
AIAS/ACSA New Faculty Teaching Award
Recognizes demonstrated excellence and innovation in teaching performance during the formative years of an architectural teaching career.
Full-Time Faculty
Soo Jeong Jo | Louisiana State University
Samantha Schuermann | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Adam Thibodeaux | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Part-Time Faculty
Amanda Ortland | University of Southern California
Diversity Achievement Award
Recognizes the work of faculty, administrators, or students in creating effective methods and models to achieve greater diversity in curricula, school personnel, and student bodies, specifically to incorporate the participation and contributions of historically under-represented groups or contexts.
An Action-Based Framework to Expand Understanding Through Design
Karla Sierralta | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Fostering Inclusive Excellence: the Florida High School Dual Enrollment Program in Architecture
David Rifkind | University of Florida
Hernan Guerrero Applewhite | University of Florida
Community College Transfer Pathways
LaTanya Cobb | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Mark Pearson | College of DuPage
Creative Achievement Award
Recognizes a specific creative achievement in teaching, design, scholarship, research, or service that advances architectural education.
Radical Middle Grounds: New Agendas for Medium-Density Housing
Martin Hättasch | University of Texas at Austin
Another Architecture
Neyran Turan | University of California, Berkeley
Drawing Codes: Experimental Protocols of Architectural Representation
Adam Marcus | Tulane University
Andrew Kudless | University of Houston
Collaborative Practice Award
Established in 1997 by Thomas Dutton and Anthony Schuman to recognize ACSA’s commitment to community partnerships in which faculty, students and neighborhood citizens are valued equally and that aim to address issues of social injustice through design.
Soil in our Hands: Rammed-Earth Community Kitchen for a Deaf Immigrant Advocacy Farm
Christina Chi Zhang | Lehigh University & Syracuse University
Hannibal Newsom | Syracuse University
Lauren Scott | Syracuse University
Chicago Sukkah Design Festival
Joseph Altshuler | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Design Award
Recognizes work that advances the reflective nature of practice and teaching by recognizing and encouraging creative design and design investigation in architecture and related environmental design fields and by promoting work that expands the boundaries of design through, for example but not limited to, formal investigations, innovative design process, addressing justice, working with communities, advancing sustainable practices, fostering resilience, and/or centering the human experience.
Sylvan Scrapple
Katie MacDonald | University of Virginia
Kyle Schumann | University of Virginia
Brookes (Revisited)
Elgin Cleckley | University of Virginia
Faculty Design Honorable Mention
I AM BLOOMING
Akima Brackeen | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Vincent Calabro | University of Illinois Chicago
Luxe Lakes CPI SIGHT Art Center: Making Average Temperature and Subtle Scenary
Dingliang Yang | University of Minnesota
Design-Build Award
Honors the best practices in school-based design-build projects.
Teaching Pavilion for Food Justice and Water Management
Emilie Taylor | Tulane University
Jose Cotto | Tulane University
Ann Yoachim | Tulane University
Nick Jenisch | Tulane University
Sensing the Forest
John Folan | University of Arkansas
David Kennedy | University of Arkansas
Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS) | University of Arkansas
BLIND
Jason Griffiths | University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Full Resolution Studies (FRS), Exquisite Corpse
Ryan Tyler Martinez | University of Southern California
Erin Kasimow | University of Southern California
Jimenez Lai | University of Southern California
AIA/ACSA Practice + Leadership Award
Recognizes “best practice” examples of highly effective teaching, scholarship, and outreach in the areas of professional practice and leadership.
The Practice Component: A Model for Practice-Integrated Design Education
Bethany Lundell Garver | Boston Architectural College
Ashley Tannebaum | Boston Architectural College
Maria Sardinas | Boston Architectural College
Tina Maceri Bolden | Boston Architectural College
The Native Peoples Design Coalition (NPDC)
Laura Carr | University of Arizona
Cultural Mapping: Visibilizing 20th Century African American Heritage in Fayetteville, AR
Stephen Luoni | University of Arkansas & University of Arkansas Community Design Center (UACDC)
AIA/ACSA Housing Design Education Award
Recognizes the importance of good education in housing design to produce architects ready for practice in a wide range of areas and able to be capable leaders and contributors to their communities.
At Home with the Collective: A Seminar and Studio on the Future of Housing
Alexander Eisenschmidt | University of Illinois at Chicago
Common Ground: Reimagining a Residential Block for Collective Living
Leyuan Li | University of Colorado Denver
Repetition and Difference: Collective Living, Biophilia, and Mass Timber on the Campus of IIT in Chicago
Ryan Roark | Illinois Institute of Technology
Michael Glynn | Illinois Institute of Technology
JAE Article Awards
The Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) Award was instituted in 1985 and is now given annually for outstanding peer-reviewed articles published in the Essay, Design, Narrative, and Image categories during the preceding academic year.
Essay Award
Man Made: DuPont and Desert Development in Iran
Gabrielle Printz | Yale University
Design Essay Award
The Indian Delights Cookbook
Amina Kaskar | KU Leuven
Narrative Award
Visualizing the Desert: Karl S. Twitchell and the Environmental Imaginaries of the Saudi Arabian Desert, 1936-1948
Dalal Musaed Alsayer | Kuwait University
TAD Research Contribution Award
Recognizes outstanding peer-reviewed research published in the Technology | Architecture + Design Journal.
Article from Volume VII
Wild Wood Gridshells: Mixed-Reality Construction of Nonstandard Wood
Tim Cousin | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Latifa Alkhayat | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Natalie Pearl | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Christopher B. Dewart | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Caitlin Mueller | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Article from Volume VII
Data Visualization for a Circular Economy: Designing a Web Application for Sustainable Housing
Naomi Keena | McGill University
Avi Friedman | McGill University
Ava Klein | McGill University
Mojtaba Parsaee | Indiana State University
This year’s jury included:
Topaz Jury
Illya Azaroff, +LAB architects
Andrew Chin, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
Renee Chow, University of California, Berkeley
Elizabeth Danze, Danze Blood Architects
Jordan Luther, American Institute of Architecture Students
Winifred E. Newman, Clemson University
Distinguished Professor Jury
Mary Anne Akers, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
David Hinson, Auburn University
Marcelo Lopez-Dinardi, Texas A&M University
Vikramaditya Prakash, University of Washington
Mo Zell, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
New Faculty Teaching Jury
Christian Brack, Oklahoma State University
Joshua Foster, East Los Angeles College
Gilberto Lozada Báez, American Institute of Architecture Students
June Williamson, City College of New York
Diversity Achievement Jury
Shawn Bailey, University of Manitoba
Sara Bartumeus Ferre, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Peter Robinson, Cornell University
Collaborative Practice Jury
José Gámez, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Julie Kim, Georgia Institute of Technology
Stephen Slaughter, Pratt Institute
Elpitha Tsoutsounakis, University of Utah
Housing Design Education Jury
Joshua Foster, East Los Angeles College
Ceara O’Leary, University of Detroit Mercy
Bart Shaw, Ibanez Shaw Architecture LLC
Creative Achievement Jury
Elgin Cleckley, University of Virginia
Dana Cupkova, Carnegie Mellon University
Vivian Lee, University of Toronto
Faculty Design Jury
Shelby Doyle, Iowa State University
Janette Kim, California College of the Arts
César Lopez, University of Virginia
Dahlia Nduom, Howard University
Lola Sheppard, University of Waterloo
Design-Build Jury
Brad Deal, Louisiana Tech University
Kyle Schumann, University of Virginia
Tolya Stonorov, Norwich University
Practice & Leadership Jury
Irene Hwang, University of Michigan
Josh Kunkel, LEED Green Assoc.
Heather McMann, Groundwork USA
Jason Takeuchi, Ferraro Choi And Associates
JAE Article Awards Jury
JAE Editorial Board
ACSA Board of Directors
TAD Research Contribution Award Jury
TAD Editorial Board
ACSA Board of Directors
Best Paper & Best Project Jury
ACSA College of Distinguished Professor
ACSA Board of Directors
About the ACSA
Founded in 1912 by 10 charter members, ACSA has grown to represent over 200 schools in several membership categories, including full membership for all accredited programs in the United States and government-sanctioned schools in Canada, candidate membership for schools seeking accreditation, and affiliate membership for schools with two-year and international programs. Through these schools, over 6,000 architecture faculty are represented. The association maintains a variety of activities that influence, communicate, and record important issues, including journals, scholarly meetings, awards and competition programs, support for architectural research, policy development, and liaison with allied organizations. www.acsa-arch.org.
About the AIA
Founded in 1857, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) consistently works to create more valuable, healthy, secure, and sustainable buildings, neighborhoods, and communities. Through nearly 300 state and local chapters, the AIA advocates for public policies that promote economic vitality and public wellbeing. Members adhere to a code of ethics and conduct to ensure the highest professional standards. The AIA provides members with tools and resources to assist them in their careers and businesses. The AIA engages with civic and government leaders, as well as with the public, to find solutions to pressing issues facing our communities, institutions, nation, and world. Visit www.aia.org.
About the AIAS
The American Institute of Architecture Students is a non-profit, student-run organization dedicated to programs, information, and resources on issues critical to architecture and the experience of architectural education. For more information, visit www.aias.org.
Questions
Hanifah Jones
Digital Marketing & Communications Manager
202-785-2324 x5
hjones@acsa-arch.org
