New York School of Interior Design will offer a one-year Master of Professional Studiesin Healthcare Interior Design, launching in fall 2012. This post-professional degree is structured to prepare design professionals to create interior spaces for a variety of healthcare facilities including large hospitals, critical care units, specialty health centers, dementia care, and aging-in-place facilities.
"The healthcare industry is rapidly expanding in order to accommodate the growing needs of the baby boom generation and the global population explosion," said Dr. Ellen Fisher, Vice President of Academic Affairs/Dean of NYSID. "As the healthcare industry and the government grapple with the complexities and debates that shape society, this program will prepare students to deal with this issues and be responsive to the growing healthcare field."
The 30-credit program was conceived by Dean Fisher, Tama Duffy Day, FASID, FIIDA, LEED AP, Design Principal and Interior Design Healthcare Practice Leader at Perkins + Will; and Michael Pukszta, AIA, Design Principle at Cannon Design and Chairman of Cannon Design's Steering Committee for the National Healthcare Practice. "This program helps fill a large gap in educational knowledge in our industry," said Duffy Day. "The training and education of individuals performing this work has typically been through work experiences, as opposed to well-designed curricula. This program is both timely and carefully designed."
Victor Dadras, R.A., LEED-AP, NCARB, and partner of Dadras Architects, will lead the program, and faculty members will include Mary A Stankos, Director of Risk Management, Illinois Hospital Association; Dale Greenwald, Associate Principal/Interior Design Director, Cannon Design; and Carol Derby, Director of Environmental Strategy at Designtex, among other healthcare design professionals. The curriculum has two complementary threads: understanding healing and restorative environments, and the business of healthcare. Courses include knowledge in research methods, history and theory of healthcare, environment and behavior studies, and applied design. Green design and lighting research related to health, productivity, and precision will be integrated throughout the course of study.
Graduates of the program will be prepared to practice as healthcare specialist designers, researchers for architectural and design firms, facility planners in healthcare institutions, and other administrative and design management positions within the broad healthcare industry. Completion of this program will not lead to licensure in architecture or interior design.
The MPS in Healthcare Interior Design marks the fourth graduate program NYSID has launched in the past three years, joining the three-year MFA in Interior Design (launched in 2009), the one-year MPS in Sustainable Interior Environments (launched in 2010), and a one-year MPS in Interior Lighting Design (launched in 2011).