Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State's chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students is being honored as the nation's best.
Building on a record of community service initiatives that gained it an honorable mention during last year's competition, the 96-member campus group now has received AIAS' 2005 Chapter of the Year Award.
The student organization also is being recognized as an AIAS-designated Freedom by Design chapter.
A professional development effort, Freedom by Design was begun in 2003 as a pilot program by the national AIAS leadership. FBD encourages architects-in-training to collaborate with local experts to develop design solutions that "radically impact the lives of people with disabilities by removing barriers to their homes."
"At an institution where community service through architecture and design is instilled in the curricula, it was refreshing to see the AIAS members at MSU show not only their commitment to Freedom by Design but to finding a need and a home for this program in Mississippi," observed the AIAS jury in its commentary accompanying the award.
The MSU chapter is among five chosen this year to join the six original AIAS chapters that launched the FBD project. Other new members include the universities of Minnesota and Texas at Austin, and Ball State and Lawrence Technological universities.
MSU's chapter-of-the-year award also was based on a variety of other leadership projects, as well as increased fund-raising activities and "a demonstrated effort to create an infrastructure that will allow the chapter to grow and evolve," AIAS officials said.
Catherine A. McNeel of Jackson, chapter president for the 2004-05 school year, submitted the proposal and led in securing Freedom by Design membership. During the current school year, the fifth-year senior is serving as captain of the chapter's FBD activities.
In addition to McNeel, other 2004-05 chapter officers included vice president James P. "Jimmy" Black of Saltillo; treasurer Carly M. Allen of Paducah, Ky.; secretary Edgar A. Gonzales of Starkville; and historian Lance Eubanks of Lucedale. All now are in their fourth year of MSU's required five-year undergraduate architecture program.
A major unit of the College of Architecture, Art and Design, MSU's architecture academic program is the only one of its kind in the state. The nationally recognized curriculum includes four years of study on the Starkville campus, with the final year completed at the college's teaching and residential complex in downtown Jackson.
LOCAL EDITORS:
Additional information on the 04-05 officers . . .
--McNeel is the daughter of Richard and Charlotte McNeel [ZIP 39211].
--Black is the son of James Black of Guntown and Lori Tutor of Tupelo.
--Allen is the daughter of Karl and Amy Allen [ZIP 42001].
--Gonzales, a native of Peru, does not list his parents' names.
--Eubanks is the son of David Eubanks of Agricola and Edie Hale of Lucedale.