• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Chaminade University

Chaminade University

  • VISIT
  • APPLY
  • GIVE
  • STUDENTS
  • PARENTS
  • ALUMNI
  • FACULTY/STAFF
  • CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
  • Admissions
    • Admissions Home
    • First-Year Students
    • Transfer Students
    • Graduate Students
    • Online Students
    • Military Students
    • Experiential Honors Program
    • Emerging Scholars Pre-College Program
  • Tuition & Aid
    • Financial Aid Home
    • Tuition & Expenses
    • Scholarships
    • $5,000 Graduate Scholarship
    • Net Price Calculator
  • Academics
    • Academics Home
    • Academic Programs
    • Advising & Career Development
    • Undergraduate Research
    • Service-Learning
    • Tutoring Services
    • Academic Course Catalog
    • Registrar
    • Sullivan Family Library
  • Student Life
    • About Student Life
    • Silversword Athletics
    • Student Activities and Leadership
    • Residence Life
    • Health & Wellness
    • Campus Ministry
    • Marianist Leadership Center
    • Campus Security
    • Transportation
    • Dining Services
    • Bookstore
  • About
    • Chaminade University News
    • Our Story
    • Leadership
    • Office of Advancement
    • Mission & Rector
    • Montessori Laboratory School
    • Facts & Figures
    • Accreditation & Memberships
Search
×

Search this web site

Design for the Community

February 3, 2021 by University Communications & Marketing

In a significant honor, the Interior Design Education Council has awarded Environmental + Interior Design Associate Professor Joan Riggs its Community Service Award in recognition of her many contributions to the field, to her students and to the broader community.

Joan Riggs

Riggs will be presented with the award at a virtual ceremony in February during IDEC’s annual conference.

In notifying Riggs that she had won, IDEC President Ellen Fisher praised the professor for incorporating interior design into a long list of community service projects. Over the years, Riggs has challenged students to incorporate their interior design skills in community-centered spaces, from youth correctional facilities to safehouses for human trafficking victims to training centers.

She has also helped students reimagine interior design in nursing homes and healthcare facilities.

“The essence of Joan’s character, as well as her approach as an educator, is to serve the greater public good through design,” wrote Professor Dr. Elizabeth Lockard, in nominating Riggs for the community service award. “Service-learning is at the core of her pedagogical philosophy.”

Lockard added that Riggs sees interior design as a profession with an obligation to serve the underserved, elevating everyone’s wellbeing and quality of life. She has a particular passion in “universal design,” which seeks to underscore the social value of designing for inclusivity.

Riggs, who joined the Environmental + Interior Design faculty in 2003 and has served as its program director for the last 12 years, said placing service learning and community service at the center of design education gives students an awareness of their impact—and a greater compassion for those they serve.

“In partnerships, they deepen their ability to adapt—their thinking, their perspective and their understanding—with respect to how diversity is a strength and problem solving is a gift to be shared,” she said. “As an educator, what greater reward than to see students emerge as skilled, compassionate and successful designers? I am truly blessed to be part of this process.”

Her award, she added, is icing “on a marvelous multi-layered cake.”

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Faculty, Featured Story, Humanities, Arts & Design Tagged With: Honors and Awards

Chaminade University Logo

3140 Waialae Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii 96816

Contact Us
Phone: (808) 735-4711
Toll-free: (800) 735-3733

facebook twitter instagram youtube linkedin

Visit

  • Plan a Visit
  • Campus Map (PDF)
  • Events

Resources

  • Campus Security
  • Student Consumer Information
  • Institutional Review Board
  • Title IX / Nondiscrimination Policy
  • Emergency Information
  • Careers

People

  • Students
  • Parents
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Staff
US News BadgeUS News Badge US News Badge

Footer

© Chaminade University of Honolulu

Terms and Conditions of Use
Site Information