Colorado State University Interior Design Professor Recognized Among Most Admired Design Educators

Colorado State University interior design Professor Katharine Leigh was named one of 25 individuals from the United States to be honored among the year’s DesignIntelligence’s Most Admired Educators.

Leigh was selected by hundreds of design professionals from the small to large design firms in the country and academic department heads and students.

Architecture, interior design, industrial design and landscape architecture educators were eligible.

Of the individuals who were recognized, ten were dean’s of architecture, seven were selected from industrial design, three from landscape architecture and two were architects teaching in interior design departments. Leigh is the only interior designer selected.

Leigh served as undergraduate program coordinator for interior design at CSU for the last eight years, and has held significant design leadership roles in academic and practice organizations. She has taught at Rhode Island School of Design, Syracuse University and directed design programs at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. She began practice in 1971 as a designer for the Marriott Corporation in Washington, D.C. She also has headed the interior design team for the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Chattanooga Office Complex, served as principal in charge for Suter + Suter/VVKR’s Design Collaborative, studio director for Greenwell Goetz and most recently as strategic consultant to DuBose Associates Architects.

Leigh has received awards from the American Institute of Architects, International Interior Design Association, the Council of Interior Design Accreditation and the National Association of Office Parks. She has served as editor in chief for the Journal of Interior Design and has been recognized for CSU Service-Learning awards. She also led the university’s interior design program through a flawless reaccreditation process.

The Department of Design and Merchandising is part of the College of Applied Human Sciences at Colorado State.

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