Interior architecture professor to retire from UWSP

One of the founders of the Division of Interior Architecture will retire in June after 38 years of teaching and administration at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Professor Mary Ann Baird has seen the division grow from being part of home economic studies to an option in housing and interiors to a full major. As head of the program during its early years, she wrote the curriculum, taught most of the courses, recruited new students and garnered money and resources.

"I feel so good about what I’m leaving behind," Baird said of retiring. "We have one of the strongest interior design programs in the Midwest. We have a strong faculty, strong curriculum, good equipment and facilities and strong students. I couldn’t ask for more than that."

Baird recalled the high point of her career being the accreditation of the interior architecture program by the Foundation for Interior Design Education Research (FIDER), an achievement of only about 100 out of more than 500 programs nationwide.

Her specialty and main interest is in architectural lighting design, so she is also proud of the division’s architectural lighting laboratory and lighting studio equipment she helped put into place. She also created a curriculum for interior architecture students studying abroad, so that the credits they earn in other countries are in sequence with their UWSP courses and they can still graduate on schedule.

"More than 25 percent of the interior architecture majors study abroad," she said of the division. "I believe everything has a relationship to design and that we design for people. So when our students learn about cultures and philosophies in other countries, they become better designers."

Baird has led six international study trips, traveling to England, Scotland, Greece, Turkey, most European counties, China and Israel, and will lead a summer trip to Germany, France and the Czech Republic next year.

Besides serving 10 years as the division head and associate dean in the College of Professional Studies, Baird was acting dean of the college for one year. She also served as assistant campus planner from 1969 to 1975, helping plan two residence halls, the Fine Arts Center, the original portion of the College of Natural Resources, the first Science Building addition and the College of Professional Studies building.

But what she enjoyed most was teaching and interacting with students, she said.

"I’m constantly amazed at the variety of talents and gifts that each student brings," she said, adding that she felt great satisfaction in helping students through their ‘rough spots’ so they could succeed.

"Teaching has been like tending this marvelous garden," she said, "with all of these flowers of different colors and shapes. Some bloom early, some bloom late, some struggle but eventually bloom. I have very specific memories about most of my students, so I will miss that close contact."

Baird is not worried about being bored in retirement. She hopes to audit a few humanities courses, take some computer classes, travel in the United States and abroad and spend more time with her three grandsons. She may also serve as a juror in interior design competitions and hopes to read "just for the fun of it without feeling guilty."

She will also stay active in several of her church’s committees, volunteer in the Hospice program and in her grandsons’ classrooms and take in UWSP athletic, music, dance and theater events.

A past winner of the University Service Award, Excellence in Teaching Award and Outstanding Teacher of the Year in the School of Home Economics, Baird has a bachelor’s degree from UW-Stout and a master’s degree from UWSP. All three of her daughters and her sons-in-law attended UWSP as well.

Baird will be honored by the division at a retirement "Celebration of Teaching" party on May 13. Former students, co-workers and friends are invited. A scholarship is being set up in her name for interior architecture students wanting to study abroad.

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