Murphy receives Provost Impact Award

Associate Professor Kelley Van Dyck Murphy is the faculty lead for the research project “Building Pathways: Cultivating Diverse Futures Through K-12 and University Design Education,” which was granted a 2026 Provost Impact Award through the Confluence Collaborative for Community Engagement. The project is a collaboration with Sumner High School and co-led by Ronda Wallace, the school’s principal.

Murphy shared that building diverse futures requires educational pathways spanning elementary school through university-level education. The Alberti Program introduces architecture and design thinking to elementary and middle school students, making design accessible to historically excluded communities. Pathways is a course in which WashU students work through design-build projects engaging 50+ students at Sumner High School as community experts. Together, these programs build connected educational pathways across three populations: elementary students engaging design thinking for the first time, high schoolers as experts and co-designers reshaping their own spaces, and university students developing collaborative practice.

Murphy was recognized at the Confluence Award Research Showcase April 15, 2026.