Architecture student receives national Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship

LAWRENCE — Fourth-year University of Kansas architecture student Ashley Farrow was selected to receive a national Phi Kappa Phi fellowship as she completes her master’s degree. 

The $8,500 award from the nation’s oldest and most selective honor society will help defray some of the costs she’ll incur as she finishes her architecture degree with a year of study abroad in France. The fellowship is one of 50 awarded across the nation. In May, Farrow received the KU Phi Kappa Phi chapter’s Blackiston Fellowship, which provides $1,500 to support graduate education. 

Farrow, from Cave Creek, Arizona, has been on the School of Architecture & Design's Dean’s List and was named a Cora Downs Residence Hall Undergraduate Staff Member of the Year. Farrow has received multiple scholarships from KU and external organizations. 

Service, both on and off campus, is a defining characteristic of Farrow’s time at KU. She has been a resident assistant for KU Student Housing for three years. She also has served as an architecture studio peer mentor, a studio representative for Architecture Student Council and a Big Event volunteer group leader. She has been a Freedom by Design volunteer with the KU Chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students. She also has volunteered at Habitat for Humanity projects.  

She expects to complete her master’s degree in spring 2020. She will spend the final year of her program in France as one of 10 KU students selected to take part in the Department of Architecture’s Paris Academic Internship Program. The students spend the fall semester in classes at École Nationale Supérieure D’architecture Paris-Val de Seine and during the spring semester are placed in an internship position with a leading architectural practice in Paris. Farrow’s professional goal is to use architecture as a platform to make positive, lasting influence that addresses environmental issues. She also plans to focus on using design-build practices that improve local communities. 

About the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi 

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective honor society for all academic disciplines. More than 100,000 members maintain their active status in Phi Kappa Phi, which offers them numerous benefits as dues-paying members including access to nearly $1 million in awards and grants this year.