honors

Friends, colleagues and former students of three retiring architecture professors, John Only Greer, Roger S. Ulrich and David G. Woodcock, gathered May 10 at the University Club to celebrate the trio's combined 110 years of teaching, research and service at Texas A&M University.

Now that her senior thesis examining why great logos are memorable was named one of the year’s best undergraduate scholarly works at Texas A&M University, senior environmental design major Lori Lampe said her next major undertaking will be landing a job as a graphic designer or working for an architecture firm.

“The Bricklayer’s Disaster,” an animated short created by graduate students at Texas A&M’s Department of Visualization, earned the 3D Animation Award at the Animex International Festival of Animation and Computer Games in Middlesbrough, England.

For outstanding teaching and research-based contributions to their respective disciplines, 10 Texas A&M College of Architecture faculty members have earned promotions. “They have empowered and emboldened students through their dedication,” said Lou Tassinary, executive associate dean at the college.

Michael Murphy and Donald Sweeney, two retiring educators from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning who helped mold generations of landscape architects and urban planners during more than 80 years of combined service, were honored at a May 15, 2011 reception.

Benjamin Ramos, commanding officer of Company A-2 in the Corps of Cadets and a senior construction science major, has received the corps’ James Earl Rudder Outstanding Senior Award. Corps seniors selected Ramos as the cadet with the utmost integrity and as the best role model for underclassmen and peers.

Chris Clark, a freshman environmental design major, won a national clay target shooting contest at San Antonio's National Shooting Complex March 31-April 4, 2011. In the final round of the international trap finals, Clark wrested the lead from Black Tripplett of Bethel University.

Don't call him a teacher, says Jorge Vanegas, dean of the college, on the Texas A&M News & Information Services website. “My primary job is to unleash the individual creative potential within every student, no matter what their background or major.”

A team from Texas A&M reached the semifinal round of a worldwide competition seeking university students' ideas to solve social and environmental problems. Their idea involved kids trading points they’d earned playing video games for donations to charitable causes.

Nine photographers selected as finalists from more than 3,500 entries in a national contest were students in a fall 2010 digital photography class at Texas A&M taught by Glen Vigus, lecturer and senior visualization production specialist for the Department of Visualization.

A favorite of administrators, faculty, students and fellow staffers, Ann Eastwood, an administrative coordinator in the Office of Academic Affairs at the Texas A&M College of Architecture, has earned The Association of Former Students’ 2011 Distinguished Achievement Award for Staff.

For research that has helped improve the lives of children with chronic diseases throughout the world, James Varni, a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M, has earned The Association of Former Students’ 2011 Distinguished Achievement Award for Research.

Winning entries in Tau Sigma Delta’s Texas A&M Student Art Competition earned their creators $50 scholarships and were displayed in a Houston gallery April 4-8. The winning pieces and the rest of the submitted work were also exhibited at the college’s Wright Gallery March 26-29.

Christiaan Mulder ’80, one of South Africa’s top environmental designers and planners and an outstanding alumnus of the Texas A&M College of Architecture, received The Association of Former Students Outstanding International Alumnus Award at a ceremony held April 26, 2011 at the Clayton Williams Jr. Alumni Center.