ACSA names its new lot of winners for the 2025 Architectural Education Awards

The group of academics honored as part of the 2025 Architectural Education Awards has been announced by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) in recognition of their efforts in scholarship and teaching at ACSA-accredited schools in the United States and Canada. 

The field was led by University of Minnesota professor Thomas Fisher, who was named the Topaz Medalion winner in December in conjunction with the American Institute of Architects (AIA). As in past years, the 2025 program also included winners of the annual Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) Award and the Technology | Architecture + Design (TAD) Research Contribution Award. 

Rounding out the selection was a five-member group, who, individually, were named winners of the Distinguished Professor Award. The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign was particularly well-represented, with wins in three separate categories. You can view the full list of Architectural Education Awards winners below.

AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion

• Thomas Fisher | University of Minnesota

• Julian Bonder | Roger Williams University
• Katsuhiko Muramoto | Pennsylvania State University
• Douglas E. Noble | University of Southern California
• Teresa Rosano | University of Arizona
• Mitchell Squire | Iowa State University

AIAS/ACSA New Faculty Teaching Award

• Soo Jeong Jo | Louisiana State University (Full-time faculty)
• Samantha Schuermann | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Full-time faculty)
• Adam Thibodeaux | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee ((Full-time faculty)
• Amanda Ortland | University of Southern California (Part-time faculty)

• An Action-Based Framework to Expand Understanding Through Design
  Karla Sierralta | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
• Fostering Inclusive Excellence: the Florida High School Dual Enrollment Program in Architecture
  David Rifkind and Hernan Guerrero Applewhite | University of Florida
• Community College Transfer Pathways
  LaTanya Cobb | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Mark Pearson | College of DuPage

• Radical Middle Grounds: New Agendas for Medium-Density Housing
  Martin Hättasch |  University of Texas at Austin
• Another Architecture
  Neyran Turan | University of California, Berkeley
• Drawing Codes: Experimental Protocols of Architectural Representation
  Adam Marcus | Tulane University and Andrew Kudless | University of Houston

• Soil in our Hands: Rammed-Earth Community Kitchen for a Deaf Immigrant Advocacy Farm
  Christina Chi Zhang | Lehigh University & Syracuse University, Hannibal Newsom | Syracuse University, and Lauren Scott | Syracuse University
• Chicago Sukkah Design Festival
  Joseph Altshuler | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Faculty Design Award

• Sylvan Scrapple
  Katie MacDonald and Kyle Schumann | University of Virginia
• Brookes (Revisited)
  Elgin Cleckley | University of Virginia

Design-Build Awards

• Teaching Pavilion for Food Justice and Water Management
  Emilie Taylor, Jose Cotto Ann Yoachim and Nick Jenisch
• Sensing the Forest
  John Folan, David Kennedy, and the Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS) | University of Arkansas
• BLIND
  Jason Griffiths | University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Full Resolution Studies (FRS), Exquisite Corpse
  Ryan Tyler Martinez, Erin Kasimow, and  Jimenez Lai | University of Southern California

• The Practice Component: A Model for Practice-Integrated Design Education
  Bethany Lundell Garver, Ashley Tannebaum, Maria Sardinas, and Tina Maceri Bolden | Boston Architectural College
• The Native Peoples Design Coalition (NPDC)
  Laura Carr | University of Arizona
• Cultural Mapping: Visibilizing 20th Century African American Heritage in Fayetteville, AR
  Stephen Luoni | University of Arkansas & University of Arkansas Community Design Center (UACDC)

• Essay Award
  Man Made: DuPont and Desert Development in Iran
  Gabrielle Printz | Yale University
• Design Essay Award
  The Indian Delights Cookbook
  Amina Kaskar | KU Leuven
• Narrative Award
  Visualizing the Desert: Karl S. Twitchell and the Environmental Imaginaries of the Saudi Arabian Desert, 1936-1948
  Dalal Musaed Alsayer | Kuwait University

• Article from Volume VII
  Wild Wood Gridshells: Mixed-Reality Construction of Nonstandard Wood
  Tim Cousin, Latifa Alkhayat, Natalie Pearl, Christopher B. Dewart, Caitlin Mueller | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Article from Volume VII
  Data Visualization for a Circular Economy: Designing a Web Application for Sustainable Housing
  Naomi Keena | McGill University, Avi Friedman | McGill University, Ava Klein | McGill University, Mojtaba Parsaee | Indiana State University