Dec 20, 2024 _ news

Mandy Woltjer Named IIDA Ohio Kentucky Educator of the Year

Congratulations to Mandy Woltjer on being named Educator of the Year by the Ohio Kentucky chapter of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). The award honors an interior designer who brings exceptional teaching practices to interior design students at the college level.

Mandy has taught the fifth-year interior design capstone studio at the University of Cincinnati’s school of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) for six years in addition to working at GBBN, where some of her projects include the University of Cincinnati’s Digital Futures Complex, The Andrew J Brady Center for Music, and the headquarters for the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

At the awards ceremony earlier this month, the selection committee noted: “Mandy brings her creative, professional, perspective to the classroom, challenging students to dig deeper and solve design problems in more profound ways. Her students flourish under her guidance as they are prepared and challenged to take on the real world after graduation. She is an absolute standout educator of students.”

Mandy herself loves the hands-on learning and real-time dialogue that happens in the studio environment. “I love teaching the capstone studio because it offers the unique opportunity to guide students through their independent design process as they transform creative ideas into tangible design solutions, she says. “It’s incredibly rewarding to witness students grow in confidence and creativity while also pushing my own boundaries as a designer.”

Congratulations Mandy! Learn more about her here.