Interior design program at MSU receives grant for new lighting course
Contact: Sasha Steinberg
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥旂哿κ悠碘檚 interior design program has received a grant from the Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education to create an innovative lecture course that will enable students to earn a lighting certification.
To be offered in spring 2020, 鈥淟essons from the Theatre: Architectural Lighting Design鈥 is the brainchild of MSU Interior Design Instructor Robin Carroll, who served as principal investigator for the $20,000 Nuckolls grant.
Established in 1988, the Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education is an endowment fund in support of college-level programs that inspire students to learn, appreciate and apply the basics of lighting and design in architecture. Each year, this fund solicits proposals from colleges and universities for state-of-the-art new or expanded lighting courses. Grants are awarded after rigorous review.
鈥淭hrough my research and networking in lighting, I discovered many lighting designers started in theater lighting,鈥 Carroll said. 鈥淭he artistic and practical aspects of stage lighting for theater can transform and enrich the lighting design process, and I wanted to offer a class that would introduce students to theater lighting.鈥
Carroll said she worked with MSU Assistant Professor of Communication and Theatre Coordinator Cody Stockstill to provide a multi-day introductory workshop for students on this type of lighting.
The new 鈥淟essons from the Theatre鈥 academic course will address how theater lighting techniques鈥攆iltering, controls, textures, lenses and color mixing鈥攃an be implemented into lighting architectural spaces, Carroll said.
鈥淭his course is moving the interior design program closer to offering a lighting minor, which will enhance interior design students鈥 degrees, as well as those for students in related disciplines,鈥 said Carroll, who holds an MSU bachelor鈥檚 degree in special education and a master鈥檚 degree in instructional technology.
Beth Miller, professor and director of MSU鈥檚 interior design program, said she is proud of the program receiving its second Nuckolls grant and the opportunities it will provide MSU students.
鈥淲e were one of two universities in 2019 to be awarded a Nuckolls grant,鈥 Miller said. 鈥淩obin Carroll has worked tirelessly to develop MSU鈥檚 interior design program into a leader in lighting design education.鈥
For more on the Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education, visit .
Learn more about MSU鈥檚 College of Architecture, Art and Design and its interior design program at .
MSU is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .