2022 Outstanding Students
The Outstanding Graduating Students of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning are selected by their faculty based on their academic achievement, professional activities, and participation in the life of the University through service to the program, college, and/or University. DAAP is proud to share the achievements of these students.
School of Design
Ireland Gennari
Communication Design | Bachelor of Science in Design
Ireland Gennari has exhibited exceptional academic achievement, as seen through her excellent GPA. She is highly regarded by her faculty and peers for her professionalism, talent, and drive. The comment that was spoken repeated from the faculty was excellent, hardworking, great attitude. Ireland exemplifies the core values of the communication design program and is a future industry leader.
Ryane Johnson
Fashion Design | Bachelor of Science in Design
Ryane Johnson has exhibited exceptional design and academic achievement in the Fashion Design Program and beyond. Ryane’s design ability has been recognized through prestigious industry organizations CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) and FSF (The Fashion Scholarship Fund), both awarding Ryane with significant scholarship awards. Ryane demonstrates conceptual, forward design thinking and is held in high regard by the faculty and her peers in the program. Ryane exemplifies success in the Fashion Design program.
Amelia Carpenter
Industrial Design | Bachelor of Science in Design
Amelia Carpenter’s academic career was filled with impeccable design skills and impressive leadership. While maintaining one of the highest GPAs in her cohort and top-level involvement in several extra-curricular activities, Amelia’s CO-OP record is equally impressive, with stops at many highly-ranked agencies. She is what exemplifies a quality graduate from the Industrial Design program, and the faculty of ID is excited to see her grow post-graduation.
View Amelia's DAAPworks project.
(*Group project with Grace Widmeyer.)
D.J. Trischler
Design | Master of Design
D.J. Trischler is an exemplary graduate student, dedicated to research, innovation, and application. He is self-motivated, sensitive, thoughtful, and vigorously embraces a challenge. He is driven by intellectual curiosity and sensitivity to substantive design issues. D.J. Trischler’s empathy and social responsibility are manifested in his thesis research resulting in Building Neighborhood Belonging By Design. His work demonstrates great promise as a design educator, practitioner, and leader in the design community.
School of Architecture & Interior Design
Simon Needham
Architecture | Bachelor of Science in Architecture
Simon Needham is a uniquely motivated, talented, and thoughtful designer. He continues to find ways to challenge himself in the context of conceptual development, design process and its articulable outcomes. In his capstone studio project for "Case Study House Program" Redux 2022, he has rigorously investigated designing pre-manufactured modular living pods that plug into a shared base unit to explore new approaches to housing ideas for the future.
Olivia Mathis
Interior Design | Bachelor of Science in Interior Design
Olivia Mathis is a strong student academically and respected by her faculty and peers. She provides leadership and mentorship with her peers in the studio environment. Olivia is a creative and empathetic designer, seeking to create designs that reach a broad audience and solve a specific problem. Her capstone takes on a challenging and controversial topic of designing community education space for sex education, aiming to improve the dissemination of information and create spaces for productive dialogue within a community.
Christine Sima
Architecture | Master of Architecture
Christine Sima is professional, well prepared, and operates at the highest level in her studio work. She was part of an award-winning team for the national ULI awards, taking on not only the design challenge but also self-educating herself on the business side of the team's entry. Her thesis work on dealing with rising tides and storm surge in Key West, Florida is ambitious and clearly worked out. She compliments her outstanding research with inventive design approaches.
School of Art
Sufang Lai
Art History | Bachelor of Arts
Sufang Lai is an especially dedicated student who presents well-researched, clearly conceived ideas, whether in art history or museum studies courses. She tackles scholarly questions and creative assignments equally well, sharing her own hypotheses and artistic projects with the class and melding both creative and research-based approaches whenever appropriate. Her attention to detail, the high degree of finish on her presentations and papers, and her enthusiastic and considerate demeanor make her an outstanding student.
Delaney McQuown
Fine Arts | Bachelor of Fine Arts
Delaney McQuown is a brilliant and prolific interdisciplinary artist working between print, painting, and performance. McQuown’s work focuses on a critique of the subconscious (or conscious) performances inherent in self-portraiture and the representation of self as seen through the lens of the camera. Through this social critique, McQuown aims to provide herself, and by extension the viewer, a path through the complicated dynamics of representation to self-actualization.
Tausha Cox
Art Education | Master of Arts
Tausha Cox’s work currently focuses on her personal experiences with race and identity. By sharing her journey, she hopes to inspire others to explore their own stories to discover and release their authentic voice. She is an illustrator, educator, and researcher who uses her art practice to expose evidence of racism and bias and educating others. She recently received the honor of the Director’s Choice award from DAAP for her Master’s research project Illustrative Becoming.
Charles Thacker
Fine Arts | Master of Fine Arts
Charles Thacker is a Cincinnati-based painter and mixed media artist creating work that responds primarily to the aesthetics of the neo-surrealists and the principles of systems philosophy. As a recent recipient of the UC Clermont Teaching Excellence Recognition, Charles is privileged to share the wonders of education by serving as a fine arts instructor.
School of Planning
Trene't Schill
Horticulture | Bachelor of Science
Trene’t Schill has worked hard in her academic life. Trene’t worked with faculty on time management, communication, and drafting skills. Trene’t seeks to improve her learning outcomes. She works in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services office of the dean; and is a volunteer with the Zoo Academy advisory committee and WAVE Foundation Conservation Fund Committee. Trene’t is passionate about improving her life and the lives of those around her through education and service.
Anthony Gustely
Urban Planning | Bachelor of Urban Planning
Anthony Gustely has achieved the highest level of academic excellence while making outstanding contributions in the classroom and studio, as well as the greater University of Cincinnati community. Anthony has been in the University Honors Program, on the DAAP dean’s list, and a student tutor with Bearcat Buddies.
Julia Glenn
Urban Studies | Bachelor of Science
Julia Glenn is an exceptional student who is passionate about environmental research, conservation, protection, and advocacy. She has demonstrated the ability to navigate academic life with flexibility and followed her convictions from urban planning and design into environmental studies and geography, specifically biogeography and landscape ecology. Julia entered the program with an exceptional academic record and has exceeded expectations with success. Julia has also actively engaged in cooperative learning opportunities and environmental advocacy through internships.
Kyle Katz
Community Planning | Master of Community Planning
Kyle Katz, a 2020-2022 Peace Corps Coverdell Fellow, served as an Agricultural Extension Volunteer in Paraguay. Kyle has been an excellent student in the Community Planning program and an outstanding Coverdell intern for the Camp Washington Community Council’s Common Orchard Project and Groundwork Ohio River Valley. Kyle served as graduate assistant for DAAPcares and for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding in addition to serving on the leadership team of the School of Planning Graduate Student Association.
View Kyle's DAAPworks project.*
(*Group project with Drew Steinmetz.)
Wendy Ellis
Landscape Architecture | Master of Landscape Architecture
Wendy Ellis is an exemplar for the aspirations of our Master of Landscape Architecture First Professional degree. With advanced degrees and experience in non-design fields, Wendy has demonstrated exceptional achievement in the demanding MLA curriculum. As a prestigious Green Roof Professional (GRP) Fellow, she is maximizing her professional development in urban design and living architecture. Wendy is inspirational with her ability to integrate research with in-depth exploration of ecosystem services, human activity and design precedents. Wendy exemplifies the creative critical thinker.