Barbara Young

Licenses, Registrations, and Certifications
RID Registered Interior Designer (RID 00206), State of Indiana
NCIDQ National Certification for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ 19978)
LEED Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP)

Barbara Young is an Associate Professor of Interior Design in the Patti & Rusty Rueff School of Design, Art, and Performance. Barbara holds a Master of Fine Arts in Interior Design from Purdue University, West Lafayette and a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from Indiana University, Bloomington.

Early in her career, Barbara spent more than seven years designing interiors for commercial and educational spaces. She joined Purdue with extensive teaching experience in Interior Design, having served as a Senior Lecturer at Indiana University, Bloomington and University of Kentucky, Lexington. Barbara is an active site visitor with the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) and member of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC). Barbara has been recognized for her service to IDEC with a Presidential Award and her contributions to elevating the field through service-learning opportunities with the IDEC Community Service Award. She has served as a Fulbright Specialist in South Korea, integrating virtual reality into the interior design curriculum, and her creative work has received international awards.

Barbara draws on her experience from interior design practice and teaching to inform her scholarly endeavors. She explores the design process and outcomes of formal and informal learning spaces from pre-k to higher education and engages in design with community partners, questions decision making in the design process, and studies design outcomes to improve human experience and well-being in interior spaces. She additionally integrates practice into the classroom where she regularly organizes real-world projects in service-learning partnerships.