IA and the IA Reach Foundation are pleased to congratulate the 2024-2025 Diversity in Design Scholarship recipients. The program, currently in its eighth year, was established in 2018 in partnership with the IIDA Foundation. It aims to enrich and advance the interior design profession by recognizing stellar students who represent diverse voices and perspectives.
Open to any minority student enrolled in a design or architecture program, the program’s entry requirement is a 500-word essay that requires students to creatively challenge the design industry and education system to make genuine institutional changes. This year, the essay topic focused on the current state of representation in our industry and how increased equity can contribute to a stronger sense of belonging. We asked the student applicants to dig deep and consider opportunities to make our design communities more resilient and flexible in constant disruption and change.
All essays were reviewed by select leaders at IA and the IIDA Foundation Board of Trustees and are juried anonymously.
“Once again, we received an overwhelming amount of compelling, thought-provoking essays. The selected students were exceptional, all providing tangible feedback and actionable ideas on the future of the design industry. Congratulations to all recipients!” shared IA co-CEOs and Presidents Tom Powers, IIDA, and David Bourke.
“Current and future leaders of the design industry remain committed to building a diverse, inclusive design community,” said IIDA Executive Vice President and CEO, Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA. “Partners like IA are more valuable than ever in ensuring these values stay visible for others while celebrating and supporting the incredible talent of young designers.”
This year’s six recipients are:
Shailynn Charley, a Rocky Mountain College of Design student, was awarded this year’s first-place scholarship of $5000 for her essay “How Indigenous Representation Enhances Interior Spaces.”
Anthony Pearl, a Savannah College of Art and Design student, was awarded this year’s second-place scholarship of $3000 for his essay “Building Resilience Through Equity in Design.”
There were four additional $500 scholarship awards granted for essays that received honorable mentions; the recipients included Marwa Aryan, a student at Colorado State University, for her essay “Marginalized Identities Must Matter Before We Can Belong”; Kelly Knodel, a student at Bowling Green State University for her essay “Seat at the Table”; Rida Ali, a student at Boston Architectural College, for her essay “The Tapestry of Resilience: Weaving Diversity into Design's Future” and Mia Pardo, a student at Texas Tech University for her essay “Becoming More than the One Percent.”
All IA Diversity in Design Scholarship recipients will be featured in the IIDA newsletters “Design Matters” and “QUAD,” and at an IIDA Celebration in Chicago in June. Winning essays are available in full on IIDA.org.
As part of the recognition, scholarship recipients will be connected to local IA team members to engage in dialogue directly with practicing designers and architects. For more information about the IA Diversity in Design Scholarship, please contact foundation@iida.org or visit https://iida.org/articles/building-a-diverse-design-future-with-ia