outreach

An innovative design for a downtown Austin, Texas senior urban housing facility created by Akshay Sangolli, a Master of Architecture student at Texas A&M, earned a merit award the American Institute of Architect’s New Urban Models For Aging competition.

Mardelle McCuskey Shepley, professor of architecture at Texas A&M and director of the Center for Health Systems and Design, has been elevated to membership in the American College of Healthcare Architects’ Council of Fellows for advancing the standards of architectural education, training and practice.

Female faculty, students and staff from the architecture and construction science programs at Texas A&M recently joined volunteers building a home for a Bryan mother and her family as part of the Bryan/College Station Habitat for Humanity’s 2011 “Circle of Women Build.”

A revitalization plan for Sealy, Texas’ downtown district, created by Texas A&M Master of Urban Planning students, won the 2011 Student Planning Award from the Texas Chapter of the American Planning Association.

Tom De Blasis, global design director for Nike soccer and a champion of design as a vehicle for solving some of the world’s intractable problems, presents “Nike: The Game Changer,” Sept. 19 in Preston Geren Auditorium. The lecture kicks off the Texas A&M Department of Architecture’s Fall 2011 Lecture Series.

When the British metal band Tesseract was looking for a director to make a video of a song called “Eden,” bassist Amos Williams knew he wanted Ganesh Rao and Jonny Greenwald, Master of Visualization students at Texas A&M, whose talent he had spotted in their earlier work, “Empyrean.”

City officials in Sealy, Texas are proceeding with steps to revitalize its historic downtown area, part of a comprehensive strategy aided by recommendations made during the fall 2009 semester by Master of Urban Planning students at Texas A&M.

The Rio Grande Guardian noted the graduation of a cadre of promotoras, community health workers trained by Texas A&M’s Center for Housing and Urban Development, in its Aug. 8 issue. The promotoras can now connect their fellow colonias residents with social services .

In search of Texas locations needing children’s summer lunch programs, Catholic Charities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service turned to the Center for Housing and Urban Development for help.

A new book exploring critical planning issues facing Latino communities includes a chapter about a building technique in Texas colonias by Cecilia Giusti, assistant professor of urban planning at Texas A&M, and Miriam Olivares, an Urban and Regional Science doctoral student.

Residents of Brownwood, Texas had a chance last fall to shape their city’s future by participating in a survey developed by Master of Urban Planning students at Texas A&M, part of a collaboration with the city’s officials to update its master plan.

Texas A&M Master of Urban Planning graduate Heather Wade ‘11, Texas’ first coastal community development agent, is creating plans with leaders in Coastal Bend counties with the twin aims of retaining the area’s coastal charm while growing in environmentally responsible ways.

Students in a construction science class are preparing bids for an off-the-electrical-grid high school concept based on a project in Addison, Texas, where they took a site tour led by contractor Satterfield & Pontikes.

A July 7, 2011 CNN story on Texas colonias highlights recent and ongoing efforts led by the College of Architecture aimed at enhancing the quality of life in these impoverished border communities, many of which lack basic necessities such as potable water, electricity and sewer systems.

Peter Lang, associate professor of architecture, discussed his border studio initiatives in the Los Lomas colonia at the June 24-26 Dwell on Design conference in L. A. His students developed survival strategies and partnered with colonia residents to improve the border community.