Student scholarships

Each year at the SOA All School Event, students are the beneficiaries of generous scholarships from architecture firms and SOA alumni. Pictured are the scholarship award recipients and scholarship presenters at the Sept. 19, 2011 event.

Back row, from left: scholarship recipient, Shurid Rahman; scholarship presenter, Rick DeMaria, DeMaria Building Company Endowed Scholarship; scholarship recipient, Kaitlynn Youn; scholarship presenter, Tom Mathison, Michigan Architectural Foundation scholarship; scholarship presenter, Tim Flintoff, Architecture Alumni Endowed Scholarship; scholarship recipient, Spencer Jaskiewic.

Front row, from left: scholarship presenter, Algis Bublys, Paul Reehil Endowed Scholarship; scholarship recipient, Brian Wisniewsk; scholarship recipient, Corissa Levill; scholarship recipient, Ethan Sim; scholarship recipient, Rebecca Willis; scholarship presenter Rainy Hamilton Jr. '79, Hamilton Anderson Endowed Scholarship.

Class of 1971 gathers for reunion

Members of the SOA Class of 1971 traveled from as far away as Denver and Laurel, MD to gather in Detroit for an informal reunion on Sept. 24, 2011.  After a morning visit at the School and conversation with Dean Will Wittig, the group enjoyed lunch and an architectural tour of Detroit. See pictures from the event.

School participates in The Alley Project

The UDM School of Architecture was involved in transforming a Detroit garage into a studio art space and gallery, as part of The Alley Project (TAP), a permanent outdoor exhibition space featuring graffiti art.  Find out about the project in the Model D article, "Young Nation's creation – a new outdoor art gallery in Southwest," and the TAP Facebook page. Read more.

Stephen P. Vogel Endowed Scholarship update

Stephen P. Vogel Endowed Scholarship was successfully funded with the first recipient expected to be named in the fall of 2012.

Student achievements

TAP Gallery Project

Erik Howard, a student in the Community Development master's degree program, completed a significant extra-curricular community development project, the TAP Gallery Project (funded by a grant from the Kresge, Skillman, Community Arts Program), which was designed and built by a UDM SOA Design/Build class with assistance from the UDM's Detroit Collaborative Design Center, which also facilitated the construction of an Art Park on two adjacent vacant lots.

Alternative Spring Break in Detroit

An MCD student team (Tiffany Tinoni, Vicky Mazzola, and Brian Ellison) successfully completed a capstone project that created a pilot "Alternative Spring Break in Detroit" program in collaboration with UDM Campus Ministries.

2011 Detroit Canstruction® Design/Build exhibit

Students from the SOA’s AIAS chapter participated in the 2011 Detroit Canstruction® Design/Build exhibit, which was on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Oct. 26-30, 2011. The exhibit, sponsored by Miller Canfield law firm, consisted of giant sculptures made completely of canned foods that were created by competing teams, including local design/architecture firms, the UDM team, led by third-year student Jeff Maniaci and a team of students from the College of Creative Studies.

Ashley Flintoff ’04, who works for SmithGroup and was a co-chair of the event, encouraged the SOA students to participate. SmithGroup also sent a team to compete. The UDM entry, “Faygo Rocks the D,” utilized 1,717 cans (All were Kroger brand. Kroger donated $10,000 to help all eight teams purchase supplies.). Other sponsors included Miller Canfield, Kroger, AIA Detroit, CAM, Gleaners and the DIA. The UDM team received an honorable mention for their entry.

The 14,300 cans used to create the exhibits were later donated to Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan. The food donation equates to 19,416 pounds of food or 14,931 meals.

Photos and media from Canstruction can be viewed at http://canstructdetroit.tumblr.com

Faygo Rocks the D,” the UDM AIAS entry in the 2011 Detroit Canstruction® Design/Build exhibit. Some of the students who worked on the project, left to right: Paul Smoes, Jeff Maniaci, Andrew Laszczyk, Lisa Kulawczyk.