The Department of Interior Design at the University may experience a program redesign which could include a faculty cut and a merger with architecture. Program faculty have been asked to assess the program’s present curriculum, said Dean David Cronrath of the College of Art and Design. Curriculum evaluations take place periodically to match programs with what’s going on in the professional field, he said. They are often the result of student performance data and feedback and interviews provided by alumni. The assessment and possible changes are in anticipation of making the program stronger and not because of potential budget cuts, Cronrath said. Though accreditation is a concern, no changes will take place that may put that in jeopardy, he said. Keeping up with CIDA certification is critical for a program, said Judy Girod, 1971 graduate and director of interior design at Lothrop Associates in New York City. The students found out about possible changes to the curriculum through the committee’s Facebook page, DeJean said. “Most larger firms won’t even look at you if you don’t come from a CIDA program,” said Ashley Broussard, 2008 interior design graduate who works for Dallas-based RTKL Associates as a staff designer.Changes being considered include reducing the seven present faculty to four and altering the four-year program to a two-year interior design concentration within architecture, according to a letter from LSU ID Plus, a committee of LSU Interior Design alumni.LSU ID Plus was formed to gather feedback from other alumni and spread awareness, said Maria Bilbao, 2002 interior design graduate and LSU ID Plus member.If the program is changed, Danielle Johnson, interior design instructor, said she will probably lose her position, along with other adjunct faculty. “We’re concerned,” said T.L. Ritchie, interior design department chair. “No one wants their program to be cut.” The faculty will turn in the report by the end of this week and will know more about the program’s future in December, Ritchie said.”No matter what, it’s going to affect our degree,” said Allison Pogue, interior design sophomore. Merging the program may make it less focused, Pogue said. “Part of the problem is we don’t really know a lot about it,” said Colette DeJean, interior design sophomore. Heidi Meibaum, 1987 graduate and ID Plus committee member, said she became aware of changes being considered while attending of the International Interior Design Association, which works to elevate the profession and allow networking among professionals.  Meibaum and Bilbao became concerned with the direction of higher education in general in Louisiana, but especially with interior design because of their personal and professional relationship with the field.  Girod said she does not see a major issue concerning merging interior design with architecture as long as students are taught by actual interior designers. “If you allow architects to teach interior design, they would try to teach it the way they understand it,” she said. Started in 1969, the interior design program was one of the first 17 accredited programs in the country and is one of three in the state, Ritchie said. The program accepts about 50 percent of students who apply through its selective admission requirements, Ritchie said. There are consistently about 200 students in the program, she said. Louisiana Tech University in Ruston and University of Louisiana-Lafayette also offer bachelors of interior design, according to the Council for Interior Design Accreditation Web site. Both are four-year programs. The Almanac of Architecture and Design has ranked the University’s program in the top 15 in the nation during the last 40 years, Ritchie said. The department’s graduates include Kenneth Brown, who hosts HGTV’s reDesign, and Jacques Saint Dizier, who was ranked in Architectural Digest’s top 100 international architects and interior designers for 2009.- – – -Contact Olga Kourilova at [email protected]