I recently had the pleasure of interviewing my colleague, Dr. Cathleen Wakeland, about the Project Management class she teaches in the Interior Design program at Auburn University. Dr. Wakeland is a new faculty member at Auburn whose professional background includes experience in retail interior design as well as experience in high-end residential, education, healthcare, and convention centers. I asked Dr. Wakeland several questions about her course, what it covers, and why. It was enjoyable to hear her perspective on how she organizes and conducts her class.

For reference, CADS 2150 – Project Management for Interior Designers is a required course taught at the sophomore level that meets once a week and is worth one academic credit hour. Over the course of the semester in alignment with CIDA Standards, students are introduced to various aspects of project management including professional conduct, ethics, client relationship, contracts, budgets, communication, as well as software and process for timeline management.

Dr. Wakeland has organized the course as though the semester itself is a project, with dates for assignments written like project deadlines. In addition to lectures and weekly assignments, students also completed two larger projects, including (1) creating a theoretical project schedule and (2) using a software template to create a contract. Students were introduced to several project management software programs in the class, created a Gantt chart, and learned about how BIM software impacts project delivery. Anecdotally, Dr. Wakeland shared an unexpected but helpful learning experience that occurred early in the semester when a hurricane caused missed class days. Dates for class assignments including project deadlines had to be adjusted, providing a firsthand demonstration of how to approach schedule changes.

On September 1, 2024, Auburn University became an ASID Higher Education Partner, which enables all faculty and students in the Interior Design program at Auburn to benefit from a multitude of opportunities and resources available through ASID. Dr. Wakeland happily shared that the incorporation of ASID resources was a great asset to the class. For example, she showed the students an educational video offered through ASID in which professional interior designers discussed the process and lessons learned from a project designing an Alaska airplane hangar which had a two-year timeline with many changes throughout this period. After viewing this video, she found that the students all remembered a project adjustment example in which the designers needed to add a locked control box for the LED lights. This design solution was prompted when the airport night crew began regularly changing the lights to pink, creating confusion among nearby traffic, with passersby wondering why the entire building was pink.  

Reflecting on the semester, Dr. Wakeland described the course as a “quick cruise through project management” that opened the students’ eyes to the profession of interior design and what really goes on, what’s most important, and how to communicate effectively.

She also reflected upon her own background which included returning to school to earn an MFA in between her professional experience and later earning a Ph.D. She stated that teaching is a wonderful career that she highly recommends; however, a higher degree is needed. At Auburn University, we offer a Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Consumer and Design Sciences and we would be delighted to speak to any professionals in the field who are interested in earning a higher degree.