Carmel-Gilfilen wins national teaching award

April 03, 2012
Candy Carmel-Gilfilen, assistant professor of interior design and undergraduate coordinator, won the national Interior Design Educator Council’s 2012 Teaching Excellence Award.

She was honored at this year’s Interior Design Educators Council conference on March 21 in Baltimore.

Carmel-Gilfilen’s Teaching Excellence Award recognizes an individual’s success in the development and delivery of a specific educational experience that yields exceptional student learning. In addition to mentoring student competition teams, Carmel-Gilfilen coordinates the department’s Design Field Experience program, which requires students to gain field experience in order to enrich their learning and provide valuable real-world experience.

“Candy has been masterful at connecting our students with opportunities in practice,” said Margaret Portillo, professor and chair of the Department of Interior Design. “For example, she has placed students in internships across the country and even internationally. She is most deserving of the IDEC Teaching Excellence Award based on her success in integrating design practice with design education to advance a progressive model of evidence-based design, an emerging research model in the profession.”

Additionally, Carmel-Gilfilen won the Fairchild Topical Issues Grant 2012 for her project titled “Incorporating Sensitivity into Healthcare Design.” The IDEC grant is awarded for scholarly activity that has the potential to expand the body of knowledge and enhance the role of interior designers in helping communities around the world cope with significant current events.