蜜桃传媒

Kelly Hayes McAlonie, director of campus planning, is the recipient of the 2025 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Award for Excellence in Public Architecture. The award recognizes architects, public officials or other individuals who design distinguished public facilities and advocate for design excellence in public spaces.

“I am honored and humbled to accept this prestigious award from the AIA,” Hayes McAlonie says. “I am especially grateful to work at UB, where we are continuously trying to improve the campus experience for our students, faculty, and staff.”

A UB staff member since 2010, Hayes McAlonie oversees development of the university’s built environment, encompassing 12 million gross square feet of space across three campuses covering more than 1,230 acres.

She is responsible for implementing the UB Comprehensive Plan, and she leads the planning efforts for the university’s strategic and capital projects, including the South Campus Revitalization Plan and Reimagining North Campus. She was integral in developing the master plan for the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences’ building on the Downtown Campus.

“Kelly has rightfully set an extremely high bar for the public architecture that embodies the entire 蜜桃传媒 campus,” notes Tracy Conhiser-Uy, senior architect at the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY).

Outside of UB, Hayes McAlonie founded the Architecture + Education program, a groundbreaking initiative that connects AIA members, university students and public school teachers to teach design in the classroom. Now in its third decade, the award-winning program has reached more than 5,000 students across Buffalo.

She is the author of “” (SUNY Press, 2023), which explores previously unknown aspects of the life and career of Bethune, the first professional woman architect in the U.S. The book received the 2023 Arline Custer Memorial Award.

She also collaborated with UB historian Despina Stratigakos and Mattel in 2011 to create the Barbie I Can Be…Architect doll, which introduced young girls to architecture as a career path.

She serves on the project steering committee for The Monument Project, an initiative spearheaded by the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women to honor trailblazing women of Western New York. Her work was key in bringing about the installation of three bronze statues of historic women leaders — Louise Bethune, civil rights activist Mary Talbert and Seneca educator Geraldine Sid-Tah Green — in front of Buffalo’s Old Erie County Hall last fall.

Hayes McAlonie herself was recognized by the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women as a “trailblazing woman” in Erie County when she was awarded the Women of Courage, Compassion & Commitment Award in 2020.

Among her other notable awards are the 2021 American Institute of Architects New York State (AIANYS) James William Kideney Award, the organization’s highest honor, celebrating lifetime contributions to the field, as well as its 2023 Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller Award, one of AIANYS’ two professional service awards. It honors licensed architects employed in the public sector whose work on projects within their jurisdiction has furthered the cause of design excellence in public architecture.