Fay Jones School Welcomes Four New Interior Design Faculty Members

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Pictured clockwise from top left: Jisun Lee, Marjan Miri, Charles Sharpless and Ziba Rajabi.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design welcomes several new interior design faculty members.

Jisun Lee, Marjan Miri, Ziba Rajabi and Charles Sharpless all joined the Department of Interior Design faculty with the fall 2020 semester.

Jisun Lee is an assistant professor of interior design. She received her Ph.D. in Interior Architecture and Built Environment at Yonsei University, South Korea, and she continued her research as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell University. She also holds a Master of Science in Design Management and a Bachelor of Science in Housing and Interior Design, both from Yonsei University. Her design research examines the relationships between the built environment and human behavior, integrating advanced research methods with emerging technologies.

Before her doctoral studies, Lee practiced as an interior designer and project manager for 15 years. Her design work included various project types, such as large-scale corporate, hospitality, retail, workplace, healthcare and private residences. Lee believes that good environmental design contributes to facilitating a physically and socially healthy society. Her design practice and research aim to contribute to a healthy and sustainable environment that promotes human health and wellbeing.

Marjan Miri is a visiting assistant professor of interior design. Her design interests focus on hospitality and retail. She is particularly interested in intricate patterns and computational design. Recently, her work has focused on human experience and human behavior.

Miri received a Master of Interior Design from The University of Texas at Austin, as well as a Bachelor of Architecture from Islamic Azad University of Qazvin, Iran, and a Master of Urban Design from Science & Research University of Hamedan, Iran. Miri seeks any opportunity to utilize new technologies in her design process. Her international education and experience help her bring a different point of view to her work.

Ziba Rajabi is a lecturer in interior design. She received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Soore University, Tehran, both with an emphasis in painting. She is the recipient of the student artist grant for the Artist 360 Grant, a program sponsored by Mid-America Arts Alliance.

Rajabi's work has been included in a number of exhibitions, nationally and internationally, including those at Masur Museum of Art, Louisiana; CICA Museum, South Korea; Aaran Gallery, Iran; The II Platform, United Kingdom; Pensacola Museum of Art, Florida; Site:Brooklyn, New York; Amos Eno Gallery, New York; and Tops Gallery, Tennessee. She has been an artist-in-residence at Vermont Studio Center.

Charles Sharpless is a practicing designer and an assistant professor of interior design in the Fay Jones School, where he was previously a visiting assistant professor of architecture. His award-winning architecture and design practice, Somewhere Studio, has a diverse body of work that seeks out the possibilities for design to create a more equitable community.

Sharpless received a Master of Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Architecture from Rice University. He is also a 2020 MacDowell Fellow, where he will be in residence during summer 2021 to complete a drawing exploration of his design work.

"The Department of Interior Design has grown dramatically over the past five years," said Carl Matthews, professor and department head. "Indeed, we have doubled in student enrollment. Such an increase in student enrollment required an expansion of the teaching team. We are thrilled to welcome such a diverse group of designers to our faculty. They infuse our program with vitality."

The Fay Jones School takes pride in maintaining low student-to-faculty ratios. These new faculty members bring the department to eight full-time and three part-time faculty. There are 242 students currently enrolled in interior design.