A multimillion-dollar gift will be donated to OU Libraries and the College of Architecture in honor of an OU alumnus and architect.
Bob Faust, who died in 2020, studied architecture at Tulane University and transferred to OU to learn under Bruce Goff, a former OU architecture professor, according to an OU News press release.
Faust’s wife, Sherry, dedicated a gift to the university to support the American School Archive, a collection committed to preserving essential materials related to that architectural movement, according to the release.
“Sherry Faust’s remarkable commitment to celebrating and building on the legacy of the American School will allow OU to remain the preeminent authority on this important movement,” OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. said in the release. “As OU continues to expand our capacity as a premier research institution, the Faust gift allows us to enhance that reputation in an area devoted to design, history and craft.”
Faust’s gift will support five projects intended to “protect and promote the legacy” of OU. These projects include maintaining the American School Archive and hiring a curator to oversee the collection. Additionally, it will fund a permanent exhibition of the archive in Gould Hall’s lobby, an annual fellowship supporting scholars, doctoral students and designers and a four-year professorship in architecture, interior design, urban design, landscape architecture, planning or construction science.
The Faust gift will aid the OU College of Architecture to further the legacy and impact of the American School Archive, according to the release. It will also benefit the digital American School Project collection and physical American School Archive, the result of the recent partnership between Gibbs College and OU Libraries.
“The American School Project at Gibbs College has been further validated by Sherry and Bob’s gift,” said Hans Butzer, dean of the OU College of Architecture. “Their generosity will secure a legacy of leading scholars from all corners of the globe mining the Faust Collection and American School Archives in support of continued research and programming. Generations of faculty and students will ensure the impact of the American School, and its students will shape everyday discourse and practice in the face of continued global challenges.”
This article was edited by Alexia Aston, Karoline Leonard and Jazz Wolfe. Francisco Gutierrez and Teegan Smith copy edited this story.
