(Baton Rouge, LA) – The College of Art + Design is pleased to announce that Jim Sullivan, associate professor in the School of Architecture, and Matt Dunn, assistant professor in the Dept. of Interior Design, have been awarded a College New Initiative Fund to help establish a research office for novice design education.

As its name implies, novice design education focuses on how best to teach beginning students in the design fields. The purpose of this proposed research office – the first of its kind in the nation – will be to preserve, generate and disseminate knowledge about novice design education in architecture and interior design.

“The education of beginning design students is very important, as it serves as the basis for their whole design career,” Dunn said. “To this point, we have not found an existing body of knowledge that deals specifically with the beginning design student.”

Dunn and Sullivan hope to grow the research office into a nationally recognized resource for educators and researchers alike. To that end, the office will house existing scholarship on novice design education, create new knowledge on the subject and make both readily available through a website and a bi-annual peer review journal. “The underlying purpose of the Research Office, and in my mind its primary significance, is to give a coherent form to a robust but informal and unorganized collection of existing research on novice design education,” Sullivan said.

As part of their award, Sullivan and Dunn will receive $10,000 a year for the next three years. The funds will be used to establish the research office, collect and organize existing scholarship, develop and implement a web site, and publish a journal, among other things. “Matt and I are honored to be awarded the College’s New Initiative Fund,” Sullivan said. “This Fund represents a significant commitment by the College to supporting and developing research within and among its academic units.”

The College New Initiative Fund was established in 2006. The goal of the program is to deepen the level of engagement in research, scholarship and/or creative activities related to the advancement of the College’s strategic plan and the LSU National Flagship Agenda.