Carole J. Olshavsky, FAIA
Former Deputy Director of the Ohio Public Works Division
During a 40-year career in which she served as state architect of Ohio, deputy director of the Ohio Public Works Division, and senior executive of capital improvements at Columbus City Schools, Olshavsky wielded considerable influence over the design of civic and educational buildings in the Buckeye State. As state architect, she oversaw the design of the Wexner Center for the Arts by Peter Eisenman, FAIA, and Trott & Bean Architects, as well as the Historical Center of Industry and Labor at Youngstown State University by Michael Graves & Associates and Braun & Steidl Architects. Graves, FAIA, wrote in his letter supporting Olshavsky’s nomination: “Carole’s intelligent approach to every situation I was involved in consistently addressed how to make public architecture—the process as well as the product—better and better. A public sector architect can do our built environment no greater service than that, and Ohio has been fortunate to have had such a leader.”

James Logan Abell, FAIA
Founder of Abell & Associates Architects
During his distinguished career, Abell specialized in affordable housing and adaptive reuse projects that preserved the vernacular character of the American Southwest, particularly in the urban center of Tempe, Ariz., where he founded Abell & Associates Architects in 1979. In 1988, as part of the AIA’s Search for Shelter design charrette, Abell led a group of Arizona State University (ASU) students who explored how abandoned buildings in Phoenix could be renovated for people who were transitioning out of homelessness. He eventually built one such project, Casa Teresa, which inspired public agencies across the U.S. to seek out his public housing expertise, wrote Gerald McSheffrey, AIA, professor emeritus and former dean of ASU’s college of architecture, in his letter of recommendation.

Robert G. Shibley, FAIA
Dean and Campus Architect of the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Buffalo
The dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Buffalo, where he also serves as campus architect, Shibley made significant contributions to the master planning of downtown Buffalo and its Frederick Law Olmsted–designed park system. His Queen City Hub plan was created as part of The Urban Design Project, a group he founded in 1990 as a collaboration between students, faculty, local governments, organizations, and the community at large. “It is now 10 years since we published the Queen City Hub, and we see the fruits of its logic with cranes in the air, new residential life downtown, and the emergent fulfillment of the plan’s aspirations for both the waterfront and our medical campus,” wrote Anthony Masiello, the former mayor of Buffalo, in a letter supporting Shibley’s nomination.