CAPLA Equity, Diversity & Inclusion News & Headlines

A recent paper by Seth Asare Okyere, CAPLA visiting assistant professor of urban planning, and Stephen Kofie Diko, assistant professor at the University of Memphis, argues that the solutions residents in poor, marginalized, informal and crowded urban areas come up with to make everyday urban life livable are a form of social innovation.

CAPLA Heritage Conservation Program Project Director Helen Erickson and graduate students Sarah McDowell and Teresa DeKoker have been instrumental in efforts to preserve Camp Naco, a borderlands Buffalo Soldier camp located near Bisbee, Arizona, resulting in awards for their story map and new funding to preserve the site.

Though the pandemic was a challenge for many, for CAPLA Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Urban Design Eduardo Guerrero it presented a new opportunity—connecting ideas from urbanism experts around the world through conversations, resulting in his urban podcast, Crossing City Limits. Learn more in this fascinating interview.

Senior Lecturer in Architecture Oscar Lopez, who joined CAPLA in 2016, teaches undergraduate and graduate architecture studios while practicing architecture and conducting research on what he calls the haptics of place, "essentially, combining both the real and the unreal qualities of architecture."

UArizona Hispanic Serving Institution Fellow Sandra Bernal Cordova, who joined CAPLA in 2018 as a lecturer, uses her built environment research, community service and cross-campus collaborations to inform the classes she teaches and co-teaches, which include Water Efficiency in Building, Equitable Cities and the Sustainable Built Environments Capstone.

This summer, graduate student Zsalina Allen participated in a sustainable transportation study abroad program in Denmark and Sweden. She documented her travels in a fascinating and entertaining blog. We followed up to learn more about her experience in Scandinavia, as well her UArizona MS Urban Planning experience.

Last spring, Master of Science in Urban Planning students in Associate Professor Kristina Curran's capstone course published the report Thriving Transit Corridors: Driving Transit-Oriented Development Along Tucson’s Broadway Corridor, which has been awarded the 2022 Student Project Award by the Arizona chapter of the American Planning Association.

Seth Asare Okyere joined the college this semester as visiting assistant professor of urban planning as part of CAPLA's inaugural emerging faculty fellow program. Learn more about Seth, including his current research on socio-spatial and environmental aspects of everyday southern urban experiences in relation to social equity and community resilience planning.

CAPLA undergraduate architecture students Kaya Orona, Celestin Amani and Anisa Hermosillo held externships at The M Group in Washington, D.C., Onyx Creative in Tucson, Arizona, and erstad ARCHITECTS in Boise, Idaho last spring break. Learn more about their experiences and the benefits externships offer for both students and sponsoring firms.

Kenneth J. Kokroko and Mackenzie Waller, assistant professors of landscape architecture who joined CAPLA last year, have been selected for the second cohort of the Dean’s Equity and Inclusion Initiative Fellowship Program. They will join 15 other early career faculty from leading design and built environment institutions across the country.

After a full and rewarding architecture career that spans marketing, facilities, project management and corporate relations, CAPLA Director of Alumni Relations and Community Engagement Kay Olsen Brown has retired. Before she rode off into the sunset, Brown shared stories about her career, her experience at CAPLA and more.

The Agricultural Center at Mochik Ranch is predicated upon the concept of interdependence, which is a central tenet of Yoeme spirituality and culture. The project goal was to use architecture to facilitate agricultural production and cultural ownership through an interdependent deployment of climactic forces and culturally significant building materials.