SPOKANE, Wash. — Washington State University students in interior design are so good, they’re tying with themselves for first place. Continuing a trend of taking top honors in the American Society of Interior Design’s Washington state competition, WSU students walked away with every first and second place award in the 2002-03 competition.
The students designed their winning projects at WSU Spokane, where all WSU interior design undergraduate students spend their final year learning in the context of the Interdisciplinary Design Institute. Several of the students just received master’s degrees in interior design.
“Our students have the opportunity to work with some of the most innovative and creative faculty in the nation, and they don’t waste a minute of that opportunity,” said Nancy Blossom, chair of the interior design department. “These awards are evidence of the students’ engagement in the classroom, their creative talents and their commitment to excel in their field.”
Jamie M. Herring, who took first place in the student competition last year, was recently awarded another first-place honor in the student category of Cooper Lighting’s 26th Annual Source Awards, a national lighting design competition. She also took first place in the Institute of Store Planners national competition. Last year, Darci Rohrbach received second place in the Washington ASID student competition, as well as in the Institute of Store Planners national competition.
Emily Moses, a student member of ASID, was honored separately by the national organization as Outstanding Student Representative to the Board of the Year. Moses was recognized for her exemplary commitment to and enthusiasm for her role as student representative to the ASID Washington State Chapter.
WSU’s interior design program, accredited by the Foundation for Interior Design Education Research, was named one of the Top-10 programs in the nation by the International Interior Design Association in 1997. WSU Spokane offers what may be the only 4+1 articulated bachelor’s/master’s degree program in interior design in the nation, allowing students in interior design to begin their graduate degree studies in the final year of the bachelor’s program.
Faculty and students in interior design, architecture, landscape architecture and construction management work side by side at WSU Spokane’s Interdisciplinary Design Institute in studio facilities that provide opportunities for collaborative learning in a professional environment. Their interdisciplinary approach to learning was cited in a recent accreditation visit by FIDER as one of the strengths of the interior design program. Students and faculty in the design disciplines routinely win local, state and national awards for their creative scholarship.
Award winners:
Overall Design and Presentation: Jamie Herring (M.A., Interior Design, 2003) of Everett, first place; and Daniel Pontius (M.A., Interior Design, 2003) of Valencia, Calif., second place.
Space Planning: Darci L. Rohrbach (M.A., Interior Design, 2003) of Colville, tied for first place; and Daniel Pontius, tied for first place.
Perspective/Rendering: Lisa Bixenmann (B.A., Interior Design, 2003) of Centralia, tied for first place in two separate entries.
Color, Materials and Methods: Emily Moses (B.A., Interior Design, 2003) of Seattle, first place; Jamie Herring, second place.
Lighting: Jamie Herring, first place, Darci L. Rohrbach, second place.
Web sites:
WSU Spokane: www.spokane.wsu.edu
Interdisciplinary Design Institute: www.idi.spokane.wsu.edu
Interior Design graduate program at WSU Spokane: www.interiordesign.spokane.wsu.edu
WSU Interior Design undergraduate program: http://id.wsu.edu/overview.htm
WSU Spokane student takes first place in lighting design competition: http://wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=3964 (June 20, 2003, news release on Jamie Herring Cooper Lighting award)
Interior design students take top honors: http://wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=2881 (April 3, 2002, news release on last year’s ASID Washington student competition)
