A team of four UNLV architecture students competed against teams from 15 other U.S. institutions to take first place in a national architecture competition for minority students.

The competition, which was sponsored by the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), was held last week at the organization's 33rd annual conference in Chicago.

"This is a very prestigious award and serves to emphasize the rapid advancements UNLV and the School of Architecture have made in a relatively short amount of time," said Jeff Koep, the dean of the College of Fine Arts, under which the UNLV School of Architecture is housed.

"I am very proud of the accomplishments of our students, who took first place under the expert tutelage of architecture professor Patricia Stissi. Stissi is one of those rare individuals who has the ability to encourage students to push themselves to extremes to accomplish excellence. Her inspiration, coupled with the talents of our students, brought this prestigious award to UNLV. It is a milestone for our School of Architecture," Koep added.

The UNLV team won the top award over Kansas State University, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Florida, and the Tuskegee Institute, which took second place through fifth place respectively.

The UNLV team was composed of juniors Saori Tsukamoto, Timo' Harrison, and Marco Davis, and sophomore Jose Aguilar.
Stissi, the team's faculty adviser, said she is very proud of her students.

"I am extremely proud of the achievement of these four dedicated students, and I would like to thank them, as well as all of the faculty, other students, and community members who encouraged the team to produce such high-quality work. I hope this achievement will inspire more students to get involved and help them to appreciate the type of education UNLV provides," Stissi said.

The objective of the national student competition was to design a museum building that would highlight the achievements of African-Americans in the field of sports. The museum, which is being considered as a new public building in Bronzeville, Ill. - a neighborhood on Chicago's South Side - was to be designed by the students as a place for people to learn about the achievements of African-American athletes and also as a venue for community activities, such as plays and meetings, Stissi said.
If the museum building is approved and funded, the UNLV students' architectural design will be considered for use and inspiration in the construction of the actual building, according to Stissi.

The UNLV team, which received an expense-paid trip to Chicago to present its design, was selected to represent UNLV in a local student-design competition sponsored by the Las Vegas chapter of NOMA.

Initially, six teams of four students competed to represent UNLV. After a faculty panel judged the entries, the top three teams presented their designs at a campus event attended by UNLV students, who were invited to select the top team.

At the national competition, UNLV's student chapter of NOMA, which was created just last year, also took the title of Honorary NOMA Chapter of the Year. Junior Walter Huertas, who serves as the president of the NOMA student chapter, also attended the conference to accept the chapter's honorary award.

"The goal of the student chapter is to provide support for women and ethnic minority students, who have been traditionally under-represented in the field of architecture, and to create an all-inclusive environment in which individuals of different backgrounds can participate in the end design of a project," said Stissi, who added that she is very pleased with the vitality of the student chapter of NOMA.