Designed To Teach Interdisciplinary Design Institute Gets Its First Director

Wed., May 7, 1997

By Michael Guilfoil mikegu@spokesman.com

Seven years ago, Washington State University pioneered a new approach to teaching design by bringing together, as equal partners, faculty and students from four disciplines: architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and construction management.

That program - known as the Interdisciplinary Design Institute (IDI) - took another major step recently with the arrival of its first director, Forster Ndubisi.

Originally from Nigeria, Ndubisi (pronounced N-do-bee-see) most recently taught at the University of Georgia. He has a doctorate in urban and regional planning, and a new book - “Approaches to Ecological Planning and Design” - due out later this year.

Ndubisi, 40, brings a level of enthusiasm to interdisciplinary design that others might reserve for, say, the NBA playoffs.

Interviewed in his new office at WSU Spokane’s Riverpoint campus, Ndubisi showed off the desktop computer-video setup that allows him to communicate verbally and visually with colleagues in Pullman and around the world.

By bringing fourth- and fifth-year students from various design fields together to analyze and solve problems as a team, he said, “We’re giving WSU students a deeper, richer knowledge that will provide them with a competitive advantage in today’s marketplace.”

Ndubisi said the institute’s Spokane center also gives its 135 students a more urban experience than they can get in Pullman, and its internship program brings design students and professionals together in the workplace.

Soon, the institute will offer graduate-level programs for local design professionals, and longer-range plans call for a doctorate program in interdisciplinary design.

But Ndubisi hopes the community at large also will take advantage of the resources available through the institute. “We don’t intend to compete with professional services,” he explained, “but we can help people understand local design problems, and to articulate their needs better.”

Ndubisi, whose wife, June Martin, will join WSU’s political science faculty as a research associate, is impressed with what he has seen of Spokane since he arrived last month.

“The community has a wonderful natural setting,” said Ndubisi, who has lived in England, Canada and Georgia, and traveled extensively. “The quality of life is very high.

“But,” he admitted with unbridled laughter, “your roads are bad. I spend half my time trying to avoid running into ruts!”

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