“We work with��public and��private colleges and universities throughout the Southeast. My day-to-day could be working on renovations or new buildings for technical colleges or four-year universities in the Carolinas, Tennessee, or Georgia.”����

She says that being promoted to a senior associate��is something a designer��attains��in recognition of their commitment to the firm and a desire to continue to strive for design excellence, while helping to mentor younger designers.��

According to School of Interior Design Dean Anne Martin, “It’s rare for a graduate to receive a senior associate position within 10 years of their graduation; however, this remarkable accomplishment does not surprise me as Melissa demonstrated remarkable project management skills and talent as a student of interior design as well as leadership in her role as president of the student chapter of the American Society of Interior Design (ASID).”��

Jakobowski says of her promotion,��“It happened naturally, from going out on business development opportunities and career fairs, collaborating with others in the design field and mentoring those that are entering the field soon.��I’m��doing what I love and helping to promote the wonderful work��we’re��doing here at MPS.”��

In 2022, The International Interior Design Association (IIDA)��recognized Jakobowski and her team at McMillan Pazdan Smith for design excellence on a project to enhance a teen space for the Nancy Guinn Memorial Library in Conyers, Georgia.��

Jakobowski feels��she’s��achieved��her��project’s��goal when she��gets positive feedback��from��students using spaces she and her team designed.��She’s��gratified��to hear how��the��students are��engaging with��inviting spaces MPS has designed��and how��they’re��excited to show up for their classes and��labs.��

Jakobowski enjoys returning to ����Vlog��ý periodically to interact with current Interior Design students. She also feels blessed to be able to��work with AU students who enter her firm as interns.����

“We’ve had some Anderson interns over the last few years; we’ve currently got one working with us part time, which has been great, and we take any opportunity we can to review student projects,” she said.��

Jakobowski’s advice to those entering interior design is to be willing to work hard��and also��take every opportunity possible to connect with people in the field.����

“Make those connections, ask questions, stay engaged, always be curious and learning. Don’t wait around for someone to bring something up, but really take that initiative, pushing yourself to grow more,” she said, adding that involvement in professional organizations including ASID and IIDA are invaluable sources of opportunities and experiences to help students grow as designers during their college years and in their subsequent careers. Jakobowski was involved in both organizations as a student and was president for the ASID student chapter at ����Vlog��ý. She continues to be actively involved in IIDA as professional member.��

The������Vlog��ý School of Interior Design��

The������Vlog��ý School of Interior Design��is one of only nine such programs to be offered in a Christian institution of higher learning and has graduates working as professional interior designers across the nation and internationally.��

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The ����Vlog��ý School of Interior Design Senior Show and Exhibition allows Interior Design seniors a culminating experience to present their signature projects generated during their four years, including the Senior Thesis. Seniors will present their signature projects from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 27, 2026. The exhibition will be open to the public from March 18-27 in the Vandiver Gallery of the Thrift Library. ��

The ����Vlog��ý School of Interior Design offers students numerous opportunities to personally connect with professionals and to go off campus to see firsthand how interior design professionals work.

According to School of Interior Design Dean AnneMartin, graduates must also have successfully completed the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) examination to become professional credentialed interior designers. The ����Vlog��ý School of Interior Design has a high passage rate for the NCIDQ and LEED Green Associate.������

����Vlog��ý Interior Design graduates can be found working in major markets,��including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami, Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah; West Palm Beach, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Charleston and Greenville, South Carolina; as well as internationally��in��Taipei, Taiwan;��Flacht, Germany;��Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;��China, Bermuda and the Bahamas.��

Students also become actively involved in the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and many compete in national and regional design competitions. Also, several graduates have furthered their studies in graduate programs.��

The������Vlog��ý School of Interior Design��is one of only nine such programs to be offered in a Christian institution of higher learning and has graduates working as professional interior designers across the nation and internationally.��

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They addressed the significance of interior designers having a seat at the table in the beginning of the design process with the architect and builder/construction management team, along with critical skills of collaboration and communication throughout the construction management process.��

Pictured from left are Baylie Weeks and Susan Peace-Vernon, both of Tribus Design Studio; AU School of Interior Design Dean Anne Martin; and Jon Warrigton, Vice President of Design, Dillard Jones Builders.��

Peace-Vernon, a 1994 graduate, earned her associate degree when Anderson was a two-year institution, then transferred to Western Carolina for further study, but returned to Greenville, where she married and continued to pursue her design career. When Anderson became a four-year baccalaureate degree granting institution, she returned and became one of the first four-year graduates in December 1994, in Interior Design. She is carrying on her family’s legacy of home building and creative pursuits.��

Weeks, junior designer at Tribus, is a 2018 Anderson graduate. During her senior year at Anderson, Dean Anne Martin shared with seniors that Tribus was interested in having students assist with installations of luxury homes during fall break at the Cliffs and The Reserve Lake Keowee. Weeks responded to this request by taking her fall break to assist with these installations, little did she know that experience lead to a part-time job the final semester of her senior year, and she secured full-time employment with Tribus prior to May graduation. Weeks specializes in eclectic, cozy and collected design, bringing vibrancy to spaces through her appreciation for color and statement pieces. She finds Tribus’ projects in diverse geographical locations exciting challenges presented by a broad spectrum of architecture and clientele.����

Peace-Vernon and Weeks, representing Tribus Design Studio, were joined by architect Jon Warrigton, Vice President of Design, Dillard Jones Builders; and DOMA Architects marketing team at the AU School of Interior Design.��

Incidentally, Warrington is the father of AU Junior Interior Design major Liza Warrington. Tribus, Dillard Jones and DOMA have locations in South Carolina at Greenville, Bluffton and Johns Island, Beaufort; and in North Carolina at Asheville and Cashiers.��

“Our students were the beneficiaries of hearing from these accomplished graduates who not only shared their career pathway as well as shared phenomenal success with multiple projects which included collaboration with architects, construction management/builder and landscape architects,” Martin said.��

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����Vlog��ý Interior Design graduates can be found working in major markets, including: Los Angeles; New York City; Chicago; Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah; Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Charleston and Greenville, South Carolina; as well as internationally in Taipei, Taiwan; Flacht, Germany; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and in China.

Learn more about the ����Vlog��ý School of Interior Design here.

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With a family of designers and draftsmen, interior design was a natural extension of his childhood experiences and one that Cole now approaches with his own creative flair. In addition to his work designing spaces for schools, he routinely gives back to his alma mater providing guidance to current interior design students.��

Read more about Cole here.

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Greene feels a sense of accomplishment “watching people smile in our environments when you don’t always expect for them to; seeing families in our Children’s Hospital being comfortable and supporting their children—taking a little stress away from a trying time by having a nice environment… seeing people navigating successfully in our spaces.” ��

She recalls the words of a former executive vice president, “imagine it’s your loved one that you’re doing this for.”��

Looking back, Greene feels grateful for the variety she’s seen in her interior design career. ��

“My first work experience was in Haworth Office Furniture dealership,” she recalled. “One of the interior designers that we were working with was designing a gastroenterology practice and took me under her wing. ��After that project, she kept bringing health care projects back and asking if I could be her designer. My mother was a nurse anesthetist, my grandfather was a doctor, so it was just a nice fit.”��

Greene left the furniture dealership to work for an independent interior design firm, Healthcare Interiors and focused on healthcare design, which she loved. In addition to Interior Design, Greene gained experience in Project Management and Marketing. These experiences provided the confidence to leave the stability of an established firm and to strike out on her own.��

“I just had this entrepreneurial spirit, I needed to do something on my own. My child was young and I wanted time with her, so I started my own interior design firm and manufacturers rep group. I was doing both at the same time, loved every moment, the best 10 years of my life,” said Greene, who worked with architects, designers and end users to select furniture from the lines I represented for use in their project work.��

Greene admits that she discovered interior design quite by accident while struggling in high school.��

“I have no left-brain activity whatsoever,” Greene said, remembering her mother’s frustration with her academic performance. She said ‘Cathy, you always have a fashion magazine inside your chemistry book. Why don’t you try fashion merchandising?’ My freshman year at Anderson, a course requirement was an introductory course in Interior Design.�� The light came on for the first time in my life! I knew that this is what I was going to do. ��

Greene recalls the thorough preparation of School of Interior Design Dean Anne Martin and her faculty colleagues, instilling in her a sense of professionalism. “She expected for us to dress appropriately and to speak appropriately and to just dig in and learn and investigate. There were field trips and learning experiences in Atlanta and New York. ��We were exposed to a very wide range of opportunity.”��

Interior Design has been good professionally to Greene (pictured second from right at Healthcare Design conference in New Orleans, where she was a speaker), but she’s quick to point out to aspiring designers that it didn’t come easily.��

“You have got to be resilient. You have got to be willing to remake or reinvent yourself and you must be smart,” she said. “Just sitting in the corner being creative is not going to make a living for you. You have got to have a business sense. You can’t be afraid to pick up the phone and call somebody to gain business. You have got to advocate for yourself, because creative people are sometimes not highly paid, and sometimes they are very overlooked. You must be receptive to growth and change and you must have a lot of faith.”��

Martin keeps in touch with Greene, who remains engaged with the ����Vlog��ý School of Interior Design.�� ��

��

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Professor Sarah Owens assigned Kravet Motif Project 2 in the ID254 course, “Textiles, Materials, Finishes and Details,” for�� students to create a textile print and 3D printed sample of a motif to be used as a pattern on a textile. The textile pattern is then digitally applied to a Kravet chair and digitally rendered. Partnering with Kravet, the School of Interior Design faculty send the top five projects to the corporate office for Kravet in New York City as submission to the Kravet Design of Distinction competition. Industry professionals in New York judge the five submissions and the winning design is given an award for the top placement.

The ����Vlog��ý School of Interior Design has a long-standing relationship with Kravet through this competition as well as a yearly visit to their facility here in Anderson. Students are introduced to the “To the Trade” industry and are shown how the distribution side of the design industry works.

Established in 1918, Kravet Inc. is the industry leader in the trade home furnishings industry and offers fabrics, trims, wallcovering, furniture and accessories to the design trade.

The������Vlog��ý School of Interior Design��is one of only nine such programs to be offered in a Christian institution of higher learning and has graduates working as professional interior designers across the nation and internationally.

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The 2024 IDEC Student Design Competition, Mind-Scape, charged students with creating a place of respite and restoration for college students on an existing campus to help them cope with the stress and pressures of college life that affect their mental and physical well-being. The design challenge is a response to the increase in mental health issues facing college students in the post-COVID environment. College of Health Professions instructor Monica M. ��Morehead served as a helpful resource on mental health for the Research component of this project.

The competition limited the total area of the facility to approximately 550 square feet with no height restrictions. Students were responsible for defining the required spaces in the facility through research into mental health stressors faced by college students, an understanding of common mental health conditions and their triggering factors, and insight into the experience of the typical user in the context of the culture of the college campus where the facility is located.

The������Vlog��ý School of Interior Design��is one of only nine such programs to be offered in a Christian institution of higher learning and has graduates working as professional interior designers across the nation and internationally.

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“I knew that it was a very artistic field and I had always been really interested in art. I think that’s what first sparked my interest, probably watching HGTV or looking at interiors on Pinterest,” she said. “Then in my junior year, I took an architecture class, and that really spiked my interest even more because I realized just how much architecture is in interior design and how much you have to think about designing an entire space. It’s so much more than just decorating or picking out fabrics and finishes. There’s so much more architectural work that goes into being an interior designer as well.”��

Among all of the Interior Design programs in the nation, ����Vlog��ý’s Interior Design program is one of only nine in the nation offered by Christian universities.

“I am a Christian, and the Christian values that Anderson holds really helped me to decide on Anderson above other colleges. I was offered an incredible scholarship from ����Vlog��ý as well,” said Thompson, who is also part of the Fellows program at ����Vlog��ý. “The Lord definitely put all of those things together and opened all these doors to lead me here.”

In January of 2023 Thompson came for a visit and fell in love with the ����Vlog��ý campus.

“I thought it was beautiful, the people were really welcoming and very kind,” she said.��

Talking to ����Vlog��ý School of Interior Design Dean Anne Martin and the other Interior Design faculty and hearing of the program’s many successful graduates won Thompson over. While she’s most interested in residential design, Thompson appreciates being exposed to all kinds of professional interior design opportunities.��

“I’m still leaning towards residential design as of right now but my eyes have been opened to just how interesting and broad the interior design field can be,” she said. “I’ve definitely become more interested in commercial design or hospitality design than I was when I first started at Anderson.”��

Thompson says that during her first semester she took a very comprehensive introduction to interior design class.��

“In that class we really learn a lot about what it means to be an interior designer, the expectations of being an interior designer and we also learn a lot about the history of interior design. We learn a lot about famous interior designers and different styles of design,” she said. “That is an intro course and it really sets the stage for what you can expect out of your career at Anderson but also in your career after you graduate.”��

During that first semester Thompson also took an architectural drawing and graphing class.��

“They get you really involved right away in doing things. You learn how to hand draft a floor plan or an elevation, one point and two point perspective. Basically they teach you how to hand draw professional construction documents, so right away you’re doing things in interior design… You also get to finalize furnishings and fixtures… for a project that you start at the beginning of the semester.”

Martin, who taught MaryClaire in the Introduction to Interior Design course, said, “MaryClaire distinguished herself by demonstrating her personal Christian beliefs in her interaction with professors and fellow students which led to her being selected as a Team Leader in Collaboration based design projects during her first semester. These attributes which she embodied align with the reason she selected the AU Christian culture over some to the prestigious Universities in the country to which she was accepted.”��

Beyond her studies Thompson has embraced the community around her at Anderson.��

“I love the town. I think it’s a perfect size—not too big. Then the community at ����Vlog��ý itself is absolutely incredible. People here are so welcoming and so kind,” she said. “Here at ����Vlog��ý you pass people and smile and say ‘hello.’ At other universities everyone keeps to themselves. Here we’re all one community, one collection of people with a common mindset.”��

So far during her freshman year, Thompson has found numerous opportunities to get involved on campus.

“Interior design does take up a lot of time and is a lot of hard work, but if you manage your time well it’s very easy to get involved on campus. I’ve gotten involved in campus ministry like RUF or BCM, but I also have played multiple intramural sports already just in the past semester.”

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School of Interior Design Senior Show and Exhibition allows Interior Design seniors a culminating experience to present their signature projects generated during their four years, including the Senior Thesis. Presentations are from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. April 5, 2024. Active Dates for the exhibition will be March 18-April 5, 2024, in the Vandiver Gallery of the Thrift Library.

The ����Vlog��ý School of Interior Design offers students many opportunities to personally connect with professionals and to go off campus to see firsthand how interior design professionals work.��

According to School of Interior Design Dean Anne Martin, graduates also must have successfully completed the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) examination to become professional credentialed interior designers. The ����Vlog��ý School of Interior Design has a high passage rate for the NCIDQ and LEED Green Associate.����

����Vlog��ý Interior Design graduates can be found working in major markets including: Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami, Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah; West Palm Beach, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Charleston and Greenville, South Carolina; as well as internationally: Taipei, Tiwan; Flacht, Germany, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and China.

Students also become actively involved in the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and many compete in national and regional design competitions. Also, several graduates have furthered their studies in graduate programs.

The ����Vlog��ý School of Interior Design is one of only nine such programs to be offered in a Christian institution of higher learning and has graduates working as professional interior designers across the nation and internationally.

The post 2024 School of Interior Design Senior Show and Exhibition appeared first on ����Vlog��ý.