Laura Levenberg, a graduate student in the Department of Architecture, has received the Senator Mark O. Hatfield Architectural Award from the Architecture Foundation of Oregon (afo).  The award, announced in February 2014 for the 2013 award year, includes a $2,000 scholarship.


The award honors both architectural design and community service, two fields of “elemental importance” to Mark O. Hatfield, former U.S. senator and Oregon governor, the afo website states.

Laura Levenberg, graduate student in architecture, won the
Senator Mark O. Hatfield Architectural Award from the
Architecture Foundation of Oregon for 2013.

Levenberg says she is “constantly looking for ways to involve people and be involved because I strongly believe that engagement and investment in the places and the people surrounding us is integral to pursuing a better, more sustainable future.”

Her selection for the Hatfield award cited both her service and studio work while at the University of California, Berkeley, and now at the School of Architecture and Allied Arts.

“From a service learning trip to Bolivia to designBridge, Public Interest Design Institute, and Social Economic and Environmental Design programs, Laura has invested in community and learned how to unite her twin passions for sustainable communities and quality design,” the afo website said.

In 1998, Hatfield received the Architecture Foundation of Oregon’s Honored Citizen Award. Having dedicated his life to public service and to the citizens of Oregon, Hatfield, who died in 2011, remains one of Oregon’s most respected and admired statesmen from his years in the Oregon House of Representatives and Senate, as Secretary of State and Governor of Oregon, to five terms as United States Senator. His contributions to Oregon and to the country are many, including funding for literally dozens of important public buildings throughout Oregon. “As our way of thanking the Senator for his gifts to Oregon’s built environment, afo established the annual Hatfield Architectural Award,” the foundation website states.

The scholarship is available to any student currently enrolled in the architecture program at the University of Oregon or Portland State University and who is a legal resident of the United States. Successful applicants demonstrate an ability for quality architectural design, and provide evidence of past and continuing commitment to community service.