Click an event link below to see what is going on at the College of Design.
School of Art + Design Events
February 2026
10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
The University of Oregon Department of Art is pleased to present a lecture and exhibition by alumnus Reza Safavi (MFA ’06).
The exhibition Binging on the Biome will be on view from February 16-26 in the LaVerne Krause Gallery. An exhibition reception will immediately following the lecture.
Binging on the Biome is informed by an interest in the edge zones of ecosystems, transitional regions where distinct environments meet and interact. These liminal spaces are defined by exchange, instability, and heightened activity, operating under conditions of continual negotiation rather than equilibrium. Through light-based works, scanned and printed ice forms, film, fabric, and kinetic systems, the works highlight these areas where environmental systems overlap and remain in flux. Referencing the increasing scarcity of ice, the exhibition considers how regions once defined by inaccessibility are becoming sites of strategic interest and control. The exhibition remains open-ended, resisting resolution while acknowledging the complexities of engagement with fragile systems.
Reza Safavi’s practice is shaped by a hybrid sense of identity. Raised in Canada after the Multiculturalism Act of 1988, he explores cultural juxtapositions through material and digital forms. Living and working in the U.S., he continues this inquiry through research and practice. Reza has been a member of several artists’ groups and, in addition to his solo work, he regularly participates in making of collaborative projects. His artwork has been exhibited and presented regionally nationally and internationally in diverse venues ranging from galleries and museums to public installations and performances. He is Professor of Art at Washington State University and holds an MFA from the University of Oregon (2006) and a BFA from the University of Victoria, in Victoria, BC, Canada.
This lecture and exhibition are made possible by the Laverne Krause Lectures and Exhibitions endowment.
Image caption: Komagataeibacterberg, fabricated from point cloud data from an Arctic iceberg using a custom biomaterial made from oceanic microbes and Kombucha, Archival Pigment Print
March 2026
4:00 p.m.
University of Oregon 2025-26 Visiting Artist Lecture Series Presented by the Department of Art and Center for Art Research
“Weights & Measures” conveys multiple meanings. It refers to the burdens our bodies and psyches carry, the passage of time and musical tempos. At its most literal, it evokes systems of value and order. The talk will discuss Khoury’s last three years of work that that have focused on collectivity, intangibility, music, food, athleticism, and death. Through the process of assemblage, casting, printmaking, forging, welding, and hand building forms, Khoury continues to explore what makes something, or someone, worth more or less than another? The athleticism of death, the aestheticism of the everyday, and the cultural imperatives that create the weights we bear. The talk will share the unique processes of casting at the Kohler Factory in Wisconsin two summers in a row, first in foundry and then in pottery.
Sahar Khoury is an artist based in Oakland, California. Khoury makes sculptures that integrate abstraction, personal and political symbols, and an intuitive sensitivity to site. Found or rejected objects that are immediate, abundant, and recurring serve as a script for constructions made of metal, clay, cement, and papier-mâché. Trained as a cultural anthropologist and having never taken any fundamental art classes, Khoury continues to develop an idiosyncratic approach to merging diverse materials, with a primary commitment to spontaneity and interdependence. She received her BA in Anthropology from UC Santa Cruz in 1996 and her MFA From UC Berkeley in 2013.
5:00–7:00 p.m.
Department of Product Design Open House Showcasing the work of MS Sports Product Design | BFA Product Design Come explore work by Fourth-Year BFA Product Design students and First- and Second-Year MS Sports Product Design students. Enjoy food, refreshments, and great conversations with our student designers. All are welcome- please join us- we hope to see you there!
School of Architecture & Environment
February 2026
6:00–7:30 p.m.
Learn about different career paths in the real estate industry and the foundations of financial analysis from guest speakers, hands-on workshops, and site tours. Join the UO Real Estate Investment Group for our weekly meetings every Wednesday in Lillis 132 from 6:00–7:30 p.m.! Our club is open to all and no application is required.
March 2026
2:00–3:00 p.m.
Join us for an information session on the Sustainable Cities and Landscapes in the Galapagos program. We'll discuss the program dates, details, and experiences!
3:00–5:00 p.m.
Environmental Design in England: The Leader in You is an active, innovative global learning course about leadership and its interdisciplinary creativity. Topics include the actual and intellectual study abroad journeys of Exemplars such as architects and artists, authors and scientists, technologists and legislators, performers and others whose own study abroad influenced how they developed new, revolutionary ways to conceive, express, and live in their world.
The focus is on the people who created these environments and how those environments impacted their lives and inspired others culturally, politically, or through design.
If you are interested in Environmental Design in England, stop by this information session on March 2 from 3pm to 5pm in the Price Library Elements Cafe. Program faculty will be present to share more about the program and answer any questions, and cake and conviviality will be provided!
April 2026
1:00–2:00 p.m.
Throughout time people have shaped their environments according to their first-hand experiences and instinctive understandings of natural phenomena; landscape design was informed by the concept of genius loci, or “spirit of place.” Sullivan and Boults maintain that recognizing and honoring the genius loci is the first step in preserving the social and ecological integrity of place when creating spaces for human use and enjoyment. Their research presents a survey of global myths, legends and folklore that are based on a deep understanding of the genius, or spirit, of the land, and presents a new framework for their application and interpretation. This is a Helphand Endowed Lecture.
A light lunch reception to meet the speakers begins at noon in the Hayden Gallery.
The Kenneth I. Helphand Endowed Lecture Fund at the University of Oregon Foundation was established in 2013 to give students the benefit of learning from top scholars for years to come. Professor Helphand, FASLA, is among the elite worldwide in landscape history and theory. A professor of landscape architecture for forty years, he is author of several award-winning books, was editor of Landscape Journal, is an honorary member of the Israel Association of Landscape Architects, and is former chair of the Senior Fellows in Garden and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks. He retired from full-time teaching at UO in fall 2012.
noon
Kory Russel, Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture, presenting on: "The Sustainable Sanitary City: Container-based Sanitation, Gray Water Reuse, and the Future of Urban Water Infrastructure".
The Institute for Policy Research and Engagement is part of the UO School of Planning, Public Policy and Management. This is in collaboration with the School of Architecture and Environment.
May 2026
1:00–2:00 p.m.
Lecture - just practice; practicing process
1 hour
just practice is a collaborative practice started by Amanda Ugorji and Sophie Weston Chien. They will be lecturing on their process and how their experiences and values shape their work as built environment professionals, educators, and textile designers. In addition to sharing their most recent pieces intersecting ideas of environmental justice, the built world, and narrative, they will be sharing how they have navigated collaboration, funding, and working sustainably. They hope for this lecture to serve as a case study for young practitioners imagining what is next.
Workshop - practicing process with just practice
75 minutes
In this workshop with just practice, we ask you to bring a project you feel most excited about being realized and imagine how to make it real with us. So much of what we do in school is framed as an exercise, but we are interested in thinking about how the ideas (and sometimes derivatives) can show up in your work outside of school. For roughly an hour, we will talk through embedded values, potential collaborators, design agency, and what success would look like to you. We hope to foster a broader conversation with peers. Please submit an image associated with the project and a three-sentence description in advance.
Bio
just practice (Amanda Ugorji and Sophie Weston Chien) spans architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, community engagement, textile, and graphic design, as well as activist and organizing work within the design field. We think about modes of practice, the spatialization of memory, Black feminist practices, the historical role of women in architecture, and strategies for collective care. just practice has exhibited at Northeastern University, Mills College, MIT Museum, Boston Public Library Leventhal Map Center, MIT Rotch Architecture Gallery, Yale School of Art and Boston Society of Architects, and our work is in private collections and in the permanent collection at the MIT Museum. Our piece Soft City was awarded the inaugural City Talks Digital Gallery Award from the Spatial Analysis Lab at USC, and we were finalists for the Harvard University Radcliffe Institute Public Art Competition.
Sophie is from North Carolina, and Amanda is from Massachusetts.
This memorial lecture was created by friends and family members of our department’s alumna, Mary Kim McKeown. She received her bachelor of landscape architecture from the University of Oregon in 1982 and was working in Mill Valley, California in the offices of Royston, Hanamoto, Alley and Abey (now RHAA). McKeown was considered one of the bright ones, and an up-and-coming leader for the firm. She lost her life when a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay Area on October 17, 1989.
To honor her memory, McKeown’s family and her associates at RHAA dedicated themselves to establishing this memorial lecture fund. An endowment fund at the UO Foundation was created, and in 1992 the department hosted Robert Royston of RHAA as the inaugural speaker in this lecture series.
School of Planning, Public Policy and Management
March 2026
2:00–3:00 p.m.
Join us for an information session on the Sustainable Cities and Landscapes in the Galapagos program. We'll discuss the program dates, details, and experiences!
noon
Jordy Coutin, Assistant Professor, PPPM, presents: "A Legal Remedy: The Impact of Martin v. Boise on Shelter Capacity and Use."
The Institute for Policy Research and Engagement is part of the UO School of Planning, Public Policy and Management.
12:30–3:30 p.m.
This symposium brings together scholars from the US, Singapore, and China to examine the evolving pathways of sustainable development in China. Focusing on the intersections of economic transformation, environmental governance, and social equity, it aims to foster critical dialogue on how sustainability is conceptualized, implemented, and contested across different regions and sectors. Through presentations and discussions, participants will reflect on China’s experiences in addressing climate change, urbanization, and development challenges, while situating them within broader global debates on sustainable development.
Event registration is required for participation:https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/019b954562f17224bdc7a0231d1f3f2e
Event sponsors:
APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Program, Global Studies Institute, Department of Geography, Department of Global Studies, Center for Asian and Pacific Studies.
April 2026
noon
Kory Russel, Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture, presenting on: "The Sustainable Sanitary City: Container-based Sanitation, Gray Water Reuse, and the Future of Urban Water Infrastructure".
The Institute for Policy Research and Engagement is part of the UO School of Planning, Public Policy and Management. This is in collaboration with the School of Architecture and Environment.
5:00 p.m.
What is Research? (2026) will explore various natures, purposes, and roles of research across disciplines, fields, and areas. The event will consider frameworks of systematic and creative inquiry, including methods, designs, analyses, discoveries, collaborations, dissemination, ethics, integrity, diversity, media/technologies, and information environments.
This year delves into research in its many forms, including searching, critically investigating, and re-examining existing knowledge, as well as emerging functions and procedures in machine intelligence and computation. It will highlight pluralities of research pathways, examining time-honored approaches and new ways of knowing, precedents, issues, and futures. It considers challenges and possibilities that researchers face in today’s rapidly changing world, and ways to promote ethical, inclusive, and impactful research.
The event celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of the Communication and Media Studies Doctoral Program in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon.
May 2026
noon
Ed Rubin, Assistant Professor, Economics, presenting on "Do Local Emissions Respond to Upwind Abatement? Evidence of Regulatory Rebound from Power-plant Rules and PM2.5 Standards".
The Institute for Policy Research and Engagement is working in collaboration with the Department of Economics and the School of Planning, Public Policy and Management.
noon
Patrick Hunnicutt, Assistant Professor, PPPM, presents: "Poisoning the Well: Process, Recognition, and Opposition to Environmental Policy in Rural America".
The Institute for Policy Research and Engagement is working in collaboration with the UO School of Planning, Public Policy and Management.