Sitting in a brightly lit room at the Michigan State Medical Society Building, MSU interior design students waited in anticipation to speak with representatives from a major design firm Monday night.
The nearest office of the Gensler corporation, an international interior design and architecture firm, is located in Detroit. But instead of making the trip, the company set up a video conference with the student group - the MSU chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers.
“This gives the students an idea of how corporations can communicate,” said Jon Vredevoogd, the group’s adviser and an associate professor of interior design at MSU. “We talk with a smorgasbord of corporations over the year, some large and some small.”
When they are not using their creative energy in drafting or computer-aided design classes at MSU, many interior design students prepare for careers by participating in activities organized by the society.
The group also visited JGA Inc., another architectural and interior design firm based in Southfield on Friday.
President Erin Bear, an interior design senior, said the goal of Monday’s conference was to talk to the firm about its projects and help the students get ready for real-world interviews and portfolio presentations.
Jan Legg and Art Smith, two representatives from Gensler, helped the group come up with interview preparation techniques.
They also discussed what they look for when hiring, which include design talent, a great attitude and a willingness to try many different areas of design. Career opportunities for interior design students range from designing residential homes to restoring historic buildings to planning government facilities.
The Gensler representatives also encouraged the students to be well-rounded creatively and obtain skills in a second language if possible. Since Gensler is a worldwide firm, it often hires designers who can help with languages.
Interior design students at MSU may be in the right place to quality them for jobs with firms like Gensler.
MSU’s interior design program is a highly competitive and recognized program, said Karrie Kutas, the group’s vice president.
“The school only takes 40 students per year,” the interior design sophomore said. “It makes the environment very friendly. We are pretty much on a first-name basis with the professors.”
About 80 freshmen and sophomores usually apply to the school per year, and students are chosen based on their grade-point averages in selected courses.
The interior design program is part of the Department of Human Environment and Design. Student classes range from drafting to lectures on art history and the psychology behind design to computer aided design classes.
“We have two CAD classes that use AutoCAD Release 2000,” Kutas said. “They are the most up to date. Anywhere you try and get a job, we’ll basically know the programs.”
Vredevoogd said the program has become more competitive because MSU is one of five schools in the state to offer Foundation for Interior Design Education Research (FIDER) accreditation.
“The FIDER accreditation sets a certain faculty to student ratio, which is why we can only accept a limited number of students,” he said. “It has recently been required for interior designers to be licensed in the state they practice, and in order to sit for the boards, one needs to be from an accredited school.”
