Department of Architecture holds best of the best competition to celebrate culture of excellence

“The Celebration of Excellence,” a new [Department of Architecture] (http://dept.arch.tamu.edu/) event recognizing outstanding student and faculty achievements, will include a juried evaluation of the year’s top five graduate final study projects, culminating with the presentation of a “Best of the Best Award” for the winning work.

The event will be held 2 p.m. Thursday, May 10 in the Oakwood Ballroom of the College Station Hilton on 801 University Drive East.

“This celebration will truly identify and recognize excellence in the classroom and a myriad of other special achievements by our students and faculty,” said Ward Wells, head of the department.

During the competition portion of the Celebration of Excellence, the five Best of the Best semifinalists, selected prior to the event by a faculty jury, will publicly present their final projects to an outside jury composed of luminaries from the architectural world:

• Vincent Canizaro , associate professor of architecture, University of Texas at San Antonio;
• Carlos Jimenez , professor of architecture, Rice University;
• Ronnie Self , associate professor of architecture, University of Houston;
• Bryan Trubey ’83, a design principal with HKS and
• David Zatopek ’85, vice president at Corgan Associates.

Trubey and Zatopek are outstanding alumni of the College of Architecture.

Also during the celebration, the department will present awards recognizing superlative student and faculty accomplishments including:

• Undergraduate Portfolio Awards, recognizing undergraduate students whose portfolio for admission to upper-level studies exhibited high-quality design and research;
• Graduate and Undergraduate Teaching Awards;
• The American Institute of Architects’ Henry Adams Medal and Certificate , awarded to the student who consistently delivered the most remarkable work throughout his or her graduate program studies;
• The Alpha Rho Chi Medal , awarded to a graduate student for leadership, accomplishment, service and promise of professional merit; and
• The Architectural Research Centers Consortium ’s King Medal, recognizing innovation, integrity and scholarship in research.

The inaugural Celebration of Excellence is a project of the Department of Architecture’s [Council of Excellence] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2011/12/6/arch-newcouncil/) , an elite group of department friends and former students who are committed to supporting and enhancing architecture program excellence, building relationships with students, and bridging gaps between the academic and professional worlds.