IN THE SPOTLIGHT: SUZANNE BILBEISI

Many of you know Professor Bilbeisi, and that she has accomplished many “firsts” over her career with OSU. These include:

First student to receive all three of the highest awards from the SoA at graduation: the AIA Henry Adams Medal, the Alpha Rho Chi Medal, and the SoA Outstanding Student designation (1988);

First woman as a tenured faculty member at the SoA (1997);

First woman to be promoted to full Professor of Architecture (2005);

First person to hold an endowed Chair in the SoA (2013);

First woman to Head a School in CEAT (2016).

Added to these accomplishments are her AIA Oklahoma Outstanding Educational Contributions Award, the NCARB Prize, the ACSA New Faculty Teaching Award, and several other unique awards from OSU: CEAT Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Faculty of the Year; OSU Outstanding Community Service by a Faculty Member; CEAT Mentoring Excellence Award; CEAT Student Council Outstanding Teaching Award; CEAT Service Award; CEAT Outstanding Advisor Award; and the OSU Regents Distinguished Teaching Award. Many alumni may also know that Suzanne achieved the rank of Third Degree Blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do! While these honors and awards are humbling to receive, Suzanne notes that her greatest joy is in seeing her students push themselves and succeed - whether that means crafting an excellent page of architectural lettering, or securing a job with the firm of their dreams. All of these moments matter to her.

In addition to teaching, Suzanne has consistently dedicated time and effort to developing and leading outreach efforts for the SoA. To that end, Suzanne has led 19 Discover Architecture workshops, 8 REACH Academies, 17 Grandparent University sessions, and led numerous professional panel discussions... with the one purpose of inspiring others to love design and architecture as much as she does.

In her role as Head of the School of Architecture, Suzanne has initiated many new programs of note: the annual Professional School Welcome event series, the Graduation Pinning Ceremony, the Coffee Cart program, and the ‘Friends’ fundraising campaign. She also led the creation of the first DEI Strategic Plan for the SoA. Bottom line, Suzanne Bilbeisi strives to place the student experience first and foremost in her work, in both the visible and the nuanced aspects.