Jacqueline Carmichael, ASID, CKD, NCIDQ, an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of Interior Design at Howard University. Inspires students to be social change agents designing equity, restoring marginalized communities impacted by systemic racism while exploring traditional canons of architecture and design.

I have been interested in interviewing Professor Carmichael since last fall. One thought that continues to be top of mind for me is what can I do now to help the next generation of Black interior designers? And so much of that work is already being done by Professor Carmichael. I had the pleasure of meeting her years ago when I was a visual merchandiser at Room & Board. I had invited Professor Carmichael and the interior design students at Howard to come for the book signing of Remix, a book that I worked on as an interior stylist and was featured in with AphroChic. The conversations that I had with Professor Carmichael then still resonate with me now; and its why I reached out to her this fall again to re-connect with the interior design department at Howard as an alumni.

There is a lot of work to be done to continue to support and encourage more people of color to join the interior design industry, and Howard University is 1 of 3 HBCUs that currently offers it as a degree program. So I wanted to learn from Professor Carmichael how does she prepare Black interior design students to go out into the interior design industry. Plus in a time like no other with Covid and the BLM movement, what is top of mind for the next generation of Black interior designers?

Jacqueline Carmichael, ASID, CKD, NCIDQ, is an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of Interior Design at Howard University. She inspires students to be social change agents designing equity, restoring marginalized communities impacted by systemic racism while exploring traditional canons of architecture and design.

Jacqueline's research, the "Chocolate City to Chocolate Chip African American Housing" series, addresses homelessness, affordability, and housing inequity due to chronic displacement in Washington, DC. Other research includes defining African American aesthetics in residential interiors, slave cabins; design psychology emphasizing African American identity; visual culture, memory and place, and experiential object-based learning. Projects include preserving the cultural aesthetics of the historic District Barry Farm Public Housing community. Moreover, she proposes lifespan familial housing typologies to set precedence in affordable housing policy for inclusion, equity, and wealth-building

Professor Carmichael serves as Interior Design advisor and HU Student Chapter of ASID advisor. Professional membership in the American Society of Interior Designers, National Kitchen and Bath Association, and Smithsonian Institution docent - National Museum of African American History Culture.