CAPLA Equity, Diversity & Inclusion News & Headlines

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.

Assistant Professor of Planning and Sustainable Built Environments Ladd Keith was interviewed by The Washington Post about the City of Tucson's Cool Pavement Program as well as the inequitable impacts of extreme heat on communities, the concepts behind "cool corridors" and more.

A 2021 study by Gary Pivo, "Equity and Sustainability Assessment of Tucson's Government Property Lease Excise Tax (GPLET) Program," was cited by Phoenix Business Journal and Planetizen on articles about gentrification and affordable housing in Tucson, particularly in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods.

Ladd Keith, CAPLA assistant professor of planning and sustainable built environments, was quoted in a February 17, 2022 KOLD-TV story on Tucson’s goals to become carbon neutral by 2030. “We need to make sure the most vulnerable in our community are taken care of when we address climate change.”

In this talk, Mabel O. Wilson, Nancy and George E. Rupp Professor in Architecture and Professor in African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University, discusses her work to create the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers on the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Assistant Architecture Professor Courtney Crosson is working with CAPLA students to design solutions for a more sustainable Tucson by 2050, thanks to sponsorship and advising by GLHN Architects & Engineers. In the Fall of 2021, students partnered with five community organizations to design sustainable urban food systems.

An editorial by Tucson Mayor Regina Romero published in Arizona Daily Star on January 16, 2022, addresses fair representation in the Regional Transportation Authority, referencing research by Associate Professor of Urban Planning Arlie Adkins, who notes that "voting structures with one vote per jurisdiction can disenfranchise urban residents and people of color."

Tayler Forsberg, who is from Rice Lake, Wisconsin, will graduate from the Bachelor of Architecture program in May 2022. He then plans to attend graduate school before working towards becoming a registered architect and, eventually, teaching.

Yaqui tribe member Daniel Vega, who is from Tucson, graduated from the BS in Sustainable Built Environments program in December 2021. Continuing his passion for sustainable design, he is taking advantage of the CAPLA Master of Architecture accelerated master’s program (AMP), which he will complete in 2024.

CAPLA Assistant Professor Ladd Keith, who worked with City of Los Angeles staff on its chief heat officer policy memo to create the new position, is interviewed by NBCLX to discuss the role of CHOs and how cities are better preparing for extreme heat.

Since 2017, GLHN Architects & Engineers has sponsored and provided technical advising on four architecture studios designed to craft a more sustainable Tucson by the year 2050. This year, the focus turns to urban food systems.