Interior design program ranked among nation’s top 8

Design Intelligence magazine ranked the Washington State University interior design program the eighth overall best interior design school in the nation in their annual survey of design professionals.

According to the magazine’s editors, the rankings “sum up the satisfaction levels of the leading professional firms and organizations that hire graduate architects and designers.” Conducted by Greenway Group’s Counsel House Research, the survey went to interiors firms and to architecture firms with interior design departments.

The surveys were targeted to those individuals in each firm who have direct experience with the hiring and performance of graduates, including design partners, managing principals and human resource directors. They were asked to reflect on the graduates they have hired during the past five years and consider how prepared for real-world practice they have been, then to indicate from which schools the best prepared hailed.

The editors also conducted an analysis of the survey results, along with additional factors such as the number of different design degrees offered by the program and technology, studio and library resources. Based on those factors, they ranked WSU 12th overall.

Nancy Blossom, professor and chair of the Department of Interior Design, said, “This fits with what we hear from the firms hiring our graduates: They are exceptionally well prepared for the competitive market place.”

Design Intelligence is published by the Design Futures Council, a global network of professionals involved with the design community with the mission to explore trends, changes and new opportunities in design, architecture and building technology for the purpose of advancing innovation and leading members to new levels of success.

The interior design program at WSU is the only undergraduate program in Washington accredited by the Foundation for Interior Design Education Research. It was named one of the top 10 programs in the nation in 1997 by the International Interior Design Association for preparing students to enter the commercial interior design field.

WSU offers what is believed to be the nation’s only articulated bachelor’s/master’s degree program in interior design, allowing students to complete both degrees in five years with an intensive course of study. Interior design students begin their studies at the Pullman campus and complete their program in Spokane at the Interdisciplinary Design Institute.


Related web sites:
* Interior Design: www.bainteriordesign.spokane.wsu.edu
* Interdisciplinary Design Institute: www.idi.spokane.wsu.edu