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In October, the School of Interior Architecture hosted a team representing the for an onsite review toward reaccreditation. After the three-day review, the CIDA team is recommending the program for reaccreditation, which is a six-year period. This important milestone leads to a final decision by the CIDA board in April.

The CIDA onsite team noted 16 areas of strength, including these:

• Global Context and Cultural Meaning
• Creative Solutions, Innovation, and Risk Taking
• Visual Communications and Use of a Breadth of Media Types
• Creation of Construction Documentation
• Understanding and Use of Building Codes

Of the 154 measures used for accreditation, the CIDA team noted four areas for improvement, including industry-specific guidelines and broadening the range of materials used in projects.

In 2011, the school earned a six-year accreditation from CIDA.  For reaccreditation, CIDA requires a three-day onsite review by a visiting team of three practitioners/educators to determine whether a program meets its standards for interior design/architecture education.  A significant element in this peer-review process is evaluating student work to determine achievement levels as an indicator of the adequacy of the required curriculum.  Student learning is a primary gauge of educational quality and is evaluated for demonstration of knowledge, understanding, ability, skills, appropriate application and competency.

The team also considers academic and professional qualifications of the faculty; adequacy of the facilities; administrative structure of the program and its relationship to the institution as a whole; and program assessment methods.

The team toured the building, reviewed student work, met with faculty and interviewed students.

In addition to the CIDA accreditation, the School of Interior Architecture earned a nine-year accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design in 2011.  For information about the college’s accreditations, visit .