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Sustaining Interior Design Education. Kimball Office Work Group Spring 2009. The Problem…. At NeoCon 2007, the issue of a shortage of ID educators was brought up to ID practitioners… Over 120 interior design faculty positions open across North America
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Sustaining Interior Design Education Kimball Office Work Group Spring 2009
The Problem… • At NeoCon 2007, the issue of a shortage of ID educators was brought up to ID practitioners… • Over 120 interior design faculty positions open across North America • Nearly 50% had fewer than 3 qualified applicants • 85% had fewer than 6 qualified applicants
The Cause… • Increased number of ID students • Value of design thinking • HGTV • Increased number of ID programs • The graying of America…retirements…
The Cause… • For full-time teaching, generally a masters degree is required; sometimes for part-time teaching as well • Majority of ID first-professional degree programs are at the bachelor’s level; not masters, therefore, few interior designer practitioners can be hired to fill these positions; must have graduate degree
The Solution… • Kimball Office gave $10,000 (the first time!) to support the challenge of increasing the pool of qualified ID educators, thereby sustaining ID education • Call went out in Spring 2008 for applicants to form an IDEC Work Group…
Sustaining Interior Design EducationWork Group • AKA…Kimball Office Work Group (KOWG) • Joy Dohr, Chair, University of Wisconsin-Madison (retired) • Andrew Furman, Ryerson University • Denise Guerin, University of Minnesota • Eileen Jones, Perkins + Will • Nila Leiserowitz, Gensler With… • Georgy Olivieri (instigator, consciousness-raiser) • Jeff Beachum (IDEC)
KOWG – Summer 2008 • Reviewed materials • Surveys • Conference notes • Data from CIDA… • Set agenda for a 3-day meeting
KOWG – September 2008 • Outcome of the meeting was five recommendations • Strategies were developed • Budgets for each recommendation were developed • Presented to Issues Forum, November 2008
KOWG Recommendations 1. Credentials for several types of ID education positions be identified and developed via an IDEC White Paper • Practitioner-educator, part-time • Practitioner-educator, full time, non-tenure track • Practitioner-educator, full-time, tenure track • Approved for funding; needs team members; small stipend available • Completion by August 2009
KOWG Recommendations 2. Courses, methods, and materials be developed to teach ID practitioner-educators • About teaching, education as a career path • About contributing to scholarship…connecting practice to scholarship • This is being addressed by the IDEC Academy; partially completed • Needs team members; small stipend • Completion by end of 2009
KOWG Recommendations 3. Identify existing graduate education program information • Type of degree; Type of program • Resources required to complete a degree • Available resources • Why do a post-professional graduate degree? • What type of course work is done in this type of program? • How does a practitioner get started?
KOWG Recommendations • Almost completed by the Graduate Network and by a Strategic Initiative (Ray-Degges, Nussbaumer, & Stockwell) • Still a few things to complete, the Graduate Network has been asked to do them • Funding needed for the dissemination as a source of information to practitioners • Electronic…LinkedIn—Twitter—Tweet…
KOWG Recommendations 4.a. Create and advance relationships, opportunities, and understanding of needs for qualified educators among students, practitioners, and educators… Short-term Strategies • Appoint/develop a conference liaison among educators, practitioners, and students for presentations about ID education as a career path • Prepare consistent message/literature for Career Day presentations; disseminate
KOWG Recommendations 4.b. Create and advance relationships, opportunities, and understanding of needs for qualified educators among students, practitioners, and educators… • Develop Centers of Excellence within Academia • Connect with business and industry to shape research topics • Dialogue between educators and practitioners on research questions • Immersed in each other’s environments • Focus on integrating students
KOWG Recommendations 4.b. Create and advance relationships, opportunities, and understanding of needs for qualified educators among students, practitioners, and educators… • Develop Partnership Centers in regions across North America • Develop courses that reflect outcome of discussion among educators, practitioners, students, industry… • Develop studios in which faculty and practitioners can be exchanged (design-swap)
KOWG Recommendations Recommendations 4a and 4b… • Funding is being sought • Team members are needed • Small stipend available
Other Unexpected Outcomes… • IDEA-line • Hot line for practitioners to call educators to find out about teaching • Believe • Brochure to be disseminated in hard copy and on-line
KOWG Summary… • Much of the work is underway • Some funding has been secured • IDEC, Kimball Office, and Teknion • Need team members (practitioners and educators) to work on all recommendations • See IDEC Web site for Call for Participants to be members of this ongoing work… • www.idec.org
Questions…Comments… Contact Denise Guerin, University of Minnesota (dguerin@umn.edu) with questions.