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Helping Students Grow Abroad
Helping Students
Grow Abroad
I appreciated the warmth of the people and closeness in family relationships–which is part of my heritage as well.
– Fatin Hameed
Jose Valeriano Lambert IV and Montgomery Bird Woods (Arch ’64) were partners in life and in work. The couple met at the School of Architecture and founded Lambert Woods Architects. Their designs included the New York, Los Angeles, and Houston offices of the global advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather and their own residence on Arrowhead Farm in Charlottesville.
Lambert and Woods took time to plan for their future and the future of students at the Architecture School. They made a blended gift, which included an outright contribution to create the Lambert Woods Traveling Scholarships, and a charitable gift annuity, the remainder of which would benefit the fund through their estate. Lambert died in 2018, and Woods died in 2021.
Architecture students have been learning abroad with help from the Lambert Woods Traveling Scholarships since 2016. Sierra Brown, Karim El-Araby, Fatin Hameed, and Asriyanti Karma, who all earned their master's degrees from the Architecture School in 2022, participated in the school's Barcelona program with support from the fund.
In fall 2021, the Lambert Woods Traveling Scholarships supported four graduate students participating in the Barcelona program.
They explored the city by bicycle, boat, and on foot to learn about the coastline, buildings, and their relationship to public space.
“I enjoyed learning about the local practice of architecture,” said Hameed. “And I appreciated the warmth of the people and closeness in family relationships—which is part of my heritage as well.”
“After more than a year of online school, having the opportunity to spend a semester abroad in my last year was immensely rewarding,” said Karma. “I was able to combine my education as a design student with the experiences of living and learning in a new city and country. There were so many surprising and curious instances just walking the streets, both new and old, of Barcelona, and I am looking forward to the work that comes from these moments.”
Under the expert management of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO), the initial $50,000 contribution to start the scholarship has more than doubled since it was invested in 2016. With an additional recent gift, the scholarship fund will continue to grow substantially in UVIMCO’s Long Term Pool and support future scholarships for years to come.