Southeast Missouri State University interior design program accredited

After five years of work, the interior design program at Southeast Missouri State University has received accreditation.

Interior design instructors Shelby Hicks and Carol Nesler and associate professor Michelle Brune began preparing for the National Kitchen and Bath Association accreditation in 2008 and finalized a timeline in 2011. The department became an accredited program May 11.

"All of that really started back in 2008 with looking at the standards," Nesler said. "Here are our classes. Are we teaching this? If we're not covering the standard, in which class can we cover it? So it was really a period of several years of doing all of this."

In order to become accredited, the program had to create a new, more innovative space in which students could work. The space includes an iPad lab, and a kitchen and lighting lab will be installed.

Instructors also had to revise their curricula and ensure every student was learning the information from the NKBA Body of Knowledge, a set of standards created by professionals in the field.

Now that the program is National Kitchen and Bath Association accredited, the focus is on the Council for Interior Design accreditation, which is expected to be finished in 2015. Hicks, Nesler and Brune are reviewing requirements and have hired a CIDA consultant to assess what needs to be done.

"[The consultant] went through [our program], and [our department] only needs to make minor changes in working toward our CIDA accreditation," Hicks said. "As exhausted as we were, we were really very excited about the fact that that was her perception."

Brune is excited for the start of a new school year with a new accreditation.

"Starting a new school year is always exciting. ... We have a new group, and they haven't been through this process that we've been through," Brune said. "Our older students have been through it with us, and they understand kind of the steps that we've taken to get where we are today. The newer students don't really know that, and so we want to share with them what the accreditation is all about and how it's going to benefit them and their future."

Pertinent address:

1 University Plaza, Cape Girardeau, Mo.