Professors from two universities are collaborating to develop courses that will explore the effects of globalization on interior design.

A $6,000 grant from the University of Wisconsin System Institute for Global Studies entitled "Global Perspectives on Design and Culture," provides materials to develop and teach closely related courses at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and UW-Madison beginning in fall 2002. Developing the courses are Patricia Williams, a professor in the UWSP School of Interior Architecture, and Beverly Gordon, a professor of environment, textiles and design in the in the UW-Madison School of Human Ecology. Both professors were named fellows of the Institute for Global Studies.

Gordon�s course, "Global Perspectives on Design and Culture," at UW-Madison will help reach her department�s goal of increasing its global focus. Williams is developing the course as a subtitle of "History of the Non-Western Decorative Arts." She also will build on two entry-level courses that she developed previously. On both campuses, the courses are intended to help design students and others interested in the topic to become more sensitive to cultural issues.

Students will explore the way cultures modify traditions because of Western domination and the impact of other cultures on the industrialized West. The class is designed to prepare students for a world that is increasingly interconnected. When confronted with future design problems, they will be more likely to ask appropriate questions.

"This is an intimate, accessible approach to the study of globalization," Williams said. "Design students need a strong understanding of global design issues to operate in the global context and the international market."

The central feature of the project will be a library of images accompanied by complete descriptions that will be available on the Internet, but only for members of the class. The two professors are collecting a total of 1,000 images and will add to the collection each time they teach the course. In addition to the photographs, they are collecting readings, videos and textbook illustrations.

"Together, we provide more access to images from cultures that each of us wouldn�t know about separately," Williams said. Williams specializes in Asian design and Gordon has expertise in design of the Americas.

Williams collected many photographs during a sabbatical year of travel in China, Spain, Morocco and several Indonesian islands. She had previously visited other non-Western countries, including Turkey, Japan, and Korea. In her recent visit to North Africa, Williams had tea in a tent with Moroccan nomads and when in Indonesia, stayed in a Batak tribal longhouse in Sumatra.

After they have developed the course, Gordon and Williams will make a presentation at the UW-System Institute for Global Studies conference.

Williams previously developed two courses at UWSP on non-Western design and is a participant in the UWSP College of Professional Studies Teacher/Scholar-in-Residence program. She is among the authors of a collection of essays, "Folk Dress in Europe and Anatolia," and has been invited to contribute to a second book in the series published by Berg at Oxford, England. She has made numerous presentations at professional conferences.

Gordon has studied the history and meaning of folk, decorative and domestic design. She is a past president of the Textile Society of America. A reviewer for DRESS, the journal of the Costume Society of America, and a contributor to American Quarterly and Winterthur Portfolio, she is the author of several books on textiles and culture.

Williams resides in rural Iola. She taught kindergarten through high school art classes in Tomorrow River schools from 1971 to 1976 and in Iola schools from 1978 to 1981.

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