UK Professor Recognized With AIA Kentucky's Highest Honor

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 10, 2014) — Clyde Carpenter, professor of architecture at University of Kentucky College of Design, has been presented with the C. Julian Oberwarth Award from the Kentucky Society of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Kentucky). The award recognizes and honors an individual society member who has displayed a long-standing commitment to the betterment of the profession and well-being of architects in Kentucky, and who has dedicated extraordinary time and talent to this end.

The Oberwarth Award, presented to Carpenter on Oct. 3, at AIA Kentucky's annual convention, is the society's highest individual honor. The award is named for C. Julian Oberwarth, former executive director of the Kentucky Board of Architects and the first architect registered under the Kentucky registration law he championed, as well as the first recipient of his namesake award in 1981.

A native of Lexington, Carpenter received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from UK and his master's degree in architecture from University of Pennsylvania. After graduation and completion of his traveling fellowship, he joined the architecture faculty at UK.

During his time at UK, Carpenter has served as assistant to the dean of the College of Architecture and director of Academic Programs. He was later appointed an associate dean, a position he held until 2003, with the occasional stint as acting dean. Carpenter then served as chair of the newly formed Department of Historic Preservation and Clay Lancaster Endowed Professor in Historic Preservation until 2010. He remains a professor in both the School of Architecture and the Department of Historic Preservation.

For the past 50 years, Carpenter has educated, advised, inspired and befriended virtually every student who has gone through the architecture program at UK. He has been cited by many architects as the heart and soul of the School of Architecture and as the one person who most influenced them to become an architect.

Carpenter's nomination for the Oberwarth Award was accompanied by numerous letters of support from architects across the Commonwealth. Time and again, his former students spoke with great warmth and passion about the profound impact he had on them and their careers.

The esteem Carpenter's former students hold for him can probably be best summed up by one letter which noted “He led by being the finest example of a true professional in the practice of architecture. He has served as an extraordinary role model to senior professionals, as well as an inspiration to young students beginning their careers. He is a wise counselor, a standard bearer of integrity and civility, and is as highly respected as anyone in the field.”

As a practicing architect, Carpenter's work has involved historic preservation and adaptive reuse, as well as new construction. He has received four AlA Kentucky Honor Awards for architectural projects and four awards for his work in historic preservation. He serves on the advisory board for the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation, which has established the annual Clyde Carpenter Award for Adaptive Reuse in his honor.

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu