KU School of Architecture & Design announces alumni award winners
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design has announced the recipients of the 2024 KU Architecture & Design Alumni Awards, recognizing graduates whose careers exemplify leadership and innovation.
“Representing disciplines from architecture and urban planning to design, data visualization and creative leadership, these honorees demonstrate how KU talent elevates communities, industry and technology in the state of Kansas and throughout the world,” said Mahbub Rashid, dean of the School of Architecture & Design.
On Oct. 22, alumni award winners will visit the Lawrence campus to join students for a panel discussion addressing the past, present and future of professional practice and for a recognition celebration at the Jayhawk Welcome Center. Those events are open to the School of Architecture & Design community.
More about the award recipients:
Lifetime Achievement Award Winners
Douglas Butterworth (Design, 1972) will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for a career spanning more than 50 years in design, art direction, photography and creative leadership. A member of KU’s first graphic design graduating class, he began his career at Ackerman McQueen, Oklahoma’s largest advertising agency, before building in-house creative teams at the Williams Companies and JELD-WEN. Butterworth has been recognized with numerous honors, including two Williams Company President’s Awards, a National Addy Award, the Silver Link Award from the Public Relations Society of America and the Knights of Columbus Community Life Award.
Donald Rosemann (Architecture, 1976), founder of Rosemann & Associates, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for his transformative influence on affordable housing and community design nationwide. Established in 1987, his firm has completed projects in more than 30 states and now operates from offices in Kansas City, St. Louis, Denver and Atlanta. Rosemann has served as principal architect for more than 1,000 Low-Income Housing Tax Credit developments, creating over 50,000 affordable housing units. His work includes community projects such as The Monarch and St. Michael’s Veterans Center in Kansas City and the Poehler Lofts in Lawrence. With more than 60 national and local awards, Rosemann is also an active member of the American Institute of Architects, Habitat for Humanity and numerous civic organizations.
Distinguished Alumni Award – Late-Career
Fernanda Viégas (Design, 1997) will be recognized with the Distinguished Alumni Award for her pioneering contributions to data visualization and human-centered technology design. She is a principal scientist at Google and co-leads Harvard University’s Insight and Interaction Lab, where she is the Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science and Sally Starling Seaver Professor at the Radcliffe Institute. Her career includes foundational work at the MIT Media Lab, leadership at IBM’s Visual Communication Lab and the co-founding of Google’s Big Picture and People + AI Research (PAIR) teams. Viégas’ research and artwork, exhibited worldwide and held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, have advanced the fields of human-computer interaction and AI ethics.
Distinguished Alumni Award – Mid-Career
Jay Campbell (Architecture, 2011), vice president at Multistudio in Kansas City, will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award for his leadership in design, civic engagement and community development. Campbell has shaped more than $1 billion in civic, cultural and educational projects, including the State Historical Society of Missouri, Indian Creek Library and Kansas City University’s Joplin campus. He has also led high-profile pursuits such as the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium redevelopment. Beyond practice, Campbell has guided Multistudio’s business strategy and earned recognition for firmwide excellence. A civic leader, he serves on boards including the KCADC, KC Global Design and the Nelson-Atkins Museum Business Council. His awards include the AIA Kansas City Emerging Professional Award and Centurion of the Year from the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.
Matthew Hufft (Architecture, 2000) will be honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award for his influence as founder of Hufft, a nationally recognized multidisciplinary design firm. Established in 2005, Hufft has grown into a 38-person practice with offices in Kansas City, Missouri, and Bentonville, Arkansas, completing more than 800 projects across residential, commercial and institutional sectors. The firm’s in-house fabrication studio has become a hallmark of its innovative and material-driven approach. Hufft’s projects include work for the Kansas City Art Institute, University of Arkansas and 21c Hotels. His contributions have earned over 65 design awards, with features in Dwell, Architectural Record, Interior Design Magazine and Forbes, which named him among the top 200 residential architects in the nation.
Lincoln Lewis (Architecture, 2007) will be recognized with the Distinguished Alumni Award for his leadership in architecture, planning and urban policy in Singapore and beyond. His career includes campus master plans and housing projects for institutions such as the National University of Singapore and Singapore University of Technology and Design, as well as the first privately master-planned public housing estate in Singapore. Lewis later shaped national policy with the Ministry of National Development and provided technical guidance on global projects through the World Bank. Currently completing his doctorate at the University of Virginia, he continues to advance the built environment through research and international practice.
Chrissy Rogers (Architecture, 2005), principal at Arcturis in St. Louis, will be awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award for her design leadership rooted in sustainability, equity and community impact. Rogers has guided numerous award-winning projects, including the Brentwood Public Library, St. Louis Science Center and Boys & Girls Club Teen Center of Excellence. Actively engaged in professional organizations such as AIA St. Louis, Urban Land Institute and the Missouri Gateway Green Building Council, she also dedicates her time to mentoring and volunteering with Operation Food Search, Big Brothers Big Sisters and disaster relief efforts.
Matthew Wegerer (Design, 2001), founder and creative director of Whiskey Design, will be honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award for his creative contributions to branding, advertising and visual communication. Since establishing his studio in 2009, Wegerer’s firm’s portfolio includes campaigns that showcase layered storytelling through color, typography and illustration. Wegerer’s work has been recognized by Communication Arts, Print, Dieline and the American Advertising Federation.
Distinguished Alumni Award – Early-Career
Erin Lewis (Design Management, 2016), vice president of Group Creative Design at Eversana, is honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award for her leadership in elevating creative standards in the life sciences industry. Her work includes major projects for Helzberg, Tom’s of Maine, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Sotheby’s and Teva. Most recently, Lewis led the ZILBRYSQ “Zillions” campaign, a national broadcast effort supporting patients with generalized myasthenia gravis, which was named Medical Marketing + Media’s “Campaign of the Week.”
Pennie Liu (Architecture, 2018), senior associate at Multistudio, will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award for her rapid rise as a designer and her lasting impact on architectural practice and mentorship. Less than a year after graduation, she became one of the youngest licensed architects in the United States, with licensure in Kansas and Missouri. Liu’s portfolio spans K-12, higher education, civic and workplace projects, including the award-winning Southeast Community College Academic Excellence Center and Lee’s Summit High School renovation. In addition to her professional accomplishments, she founded the Career-Building Series in 2019, a mentorship initiative that grew into a nationally recognized program under the National Organization of Minority Architects Kansas City.