The American Society of Interior Designers plans to present Brenau Chair and Professor of Interior Design Lynn M. Jones the 2016 National Educator Medalist award at its annual meeting in Minneapolis in July. The medal commemorates individual contributions to the body of knowledge that supports the profession. The organization specifically cited Jones’ leadership in developing graduate education at Brenau, including its first Master of Fine Arts program, and her research in connection with evolution of the seminal textbook for interior design students first published in 1999, 11 years after she began at Brenau.

The university’s interior design program has grown immensely over the last 28 years. Brenau’s first undergraduate professional interior design degree was just the second in Georgia accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation and the Interior Design MFA was the first terminal degree the university offered.

As a practicing designer, Jones’ commercial interiors have received awards from the Georgia Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the American Institute of Architects. Her work on Brenau’s Simmons Visual Arts Center received national recognition from the Interior Design Educators Council.

Past President of the ASID Georgia Chapter Jan Gillespie Delong says Jones has one of the strongest resumes the national committee has ever reviewed.

“I am thrilled and humbled by this recognition,” Jones says. “I have been given many opportunities to create interiors that improve people’s lives and to provide quality education for aspiring designers. Brenau and my colleagues in ASID and IDEC are a special part of those experiences.”