2008
Paul Eshelman & Gary Evans
Professors
Department of Design and Environmental Analysis
For ten years students in two courses in the Department of Design and Environmental
Analysis, DEA 250 and DEA 301, have been collaborating in a richly
structured semester-long service learning experience. The structure for this experience
consists of a number of interrelated components including: clear role differentiation
among collaborators, information-based design, design for a special population,
community engagement to promote intrinsic motivation, and modeling design ideas
in full-scale. These components will be applied in a collaborative, service-learning
experience that engages students in both courses in a collaborative design process
with residents and staff at Kendal at Ithaca. The challenge is to use interior
design as a means for promoting vitality in elder years.
Gary Evans is the Elizabeth Lee Vincent Professor of Human Ecology. He is an
Environmental and Developmental Psychologist interested in how the physical environment
influences children’s development. He feels privileged to be able to work closely
with Cornell students and colleagues like Paul Eshelman who are talented, dedicated,
and committed to using their skills and abilities to make a differences in the
lives of people.
Professor Paul Eshelman holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University
of Illinois, in industrial design. Before coming to Cornell, he designed train
interiors for Amtrak in Washington, D.C., and furniture for Herman Miller Research
Corporation, Ann Arbor, Michigan. From 1990-94 he was Editor of the Journal of
Interior Design, the only refereed journal currently serving the field of interior
design. At Cornell, he is an award winning teacher of interior and furniture design.
His teaching and research interest is design for special populations--groups of
individuals who deviate from the norm in society due to stage in human development,
aging, injury, disease, or genetic abnormalities. Professor Eshelman incorporates
community service as a learning component into each of the courses he teaches.
For over ten years his students in DEA 301, a third year interior design studio,
have collaborated with students in Professor Gary Evans’ course, DEA 250/660,
Environment and Social Behavior, to develop interior designs for special populations
including people with Alzheimer’s in residential care facilities, college students
with physical disabilities residing in residence halls, and at-risk youth as members
of Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
