The Fresno State Department of Art and Design‘s interior design program received re-accreditation through 2023 from the Council for Interior Design Accreditation.
The interior design program at Fresno State is the only accredited program in the San Joaquin Valley, and one of only five accredited programs in the 23-campus CSU system. Seventy students took part in the program during the 2017-18 academic year.
Accreditation, which is the process for evaluating and assuring the quality of educational institutions and programs, assures stakeholders that a university program has been rigorously evaluated and that it meets or exceeds the accreditation standards.
The interior design program was evaluated by a team of three professionals from the council over four days this past November. The final results were announced in June.
The visiting team praised the program for the students’ engagement in multi-disciplinary collaborations:
Senior “students produced professional quality presentation and successful designs that excited the viewer/user and fulfilled the functional requirements.” The program “prepares students for entry into the interior design profession. … By the final design studio, student work shows a high level of skill, analysis and thought.”
The Council for Interior Design Accreditation is the accrediting body for interior design education programs at colleges and universities in the United States and internationally.
“The Interior Design accreditation has been a successful collaborative experience,” said interior design Professor Silvana Polgar. “The support and leadership from University President Joseph I. Castro, Provost Lynnette Zelezny, Dean Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, Associate Dean Honora Chapman and Department Chair Martin Valencia were vital to making accreditation possible.”
