Margaret Portillo
Margaret Portillo, Ph.D., FIDEC
Professor
In the College of Design, Construction and Planning, Margaret Portillo, Professor of Interior Design, is serving as Associate Dean for Research + Strategic Initiatives. As a researcher, she leverages mixed methods, to explore human-centered design innovation. Recently, she was a co-recipient of an EDRA Research Excellence commendation on mixed-use learning zone spaces and typologies, a study, funded by ASID. This national award recognized the study’s translational significance and practice impact. Currently, she is collaborating on a study examining design transformation within university library, part of a larger Association of College and Research Libraries initiative. Through books, articles, and essays as well as academic and industry-invited presentations, her work has been shared nationally and internationally. Portillo also is committed to high impact scholarly service. For example, she chaired the CIDA standards development project that involved an extensive three-year process of exploring, evaluating, and testing societal influences that informed a major revision of international interior design accreditation standards. Portillo served two as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Interior Design (2006-2015), published under the auspices of IDEC, successfully moving to a quarterly publication schedule and a revisioning of the journal’s focus, reach, and readership that appreciably elevated the journal’s ranking.
Research Areas
Creativity; Applied Color; Design Empathy; Development of Third Places; Hybrid Engagement Across Built Environments
Selected Publications
- Portillo, Margaret and Meneely, Jason “Toward a Creative Ecology of Workplace Design,” Nancy Blossom and JoAnne Asher Thompson (eds.) The Handbook of Interior Design, New Jersey: Wiley.
- Lee, Jae Hwa and Margaret Portillo, “Transferability of Creative Self-Belief across Domains: The Differential Effects of a Creativity Course for University Students,” Thinking Skills and Creativity.
- Candy Camel-Gilfilen and Margaret Portillo, “Designing with Empathy: Humanizing Narratives for Inspired Healthcare Experiences,” Health Environments Research & Design Journal.
Related Websites
- Received EDRA CORE awards, recognizing team research recognized as robust and impactful for design practice, contributing the knowledge base. The commendations were awarded at the Environmental Design Research Association conferences in Vancouver and Oklahoma City
- Awarded UFRF Professorship status, recognizing a distinguished record of research and the promise of continued excellence by the University of Florida Research Foundation, representing the College of Design Construction and Planning in 2011
Selected Presentations
- Keynote speaker for the College of Design’s Spectrum of Innovation Symposium at Iowa State University
- Engagement in national and international conferences: Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) and the multidisciplinary Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA)
- Invited panelist at IDEC-Chicago exploring strategies for scholarly disseminations in the field moderated by incoming IDEC president featuring leaders from the Ohio State, Washington State University, and University of Texas at Austin
- Invited panelist at the Fellows Forum, IDEC-Chicago exploring ways to continue innovating in teaching, practice, and research during turbulent times at IDEC-Chicago
- Paper and poster presentations (refereed) on creating conditions for third places within healthcare design for clinicians and medical staff at EDRA-Mexico City
