Contact: Sammy McDavid

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A 17-year faculty veteran leading Mississippi State’s College of Architecture, Art and Design is among a select group being recognized by a national design think tank.

Dean James L. West is included in the DesignIntelligence 25 Most Admired Educators for 2016.

“The 2016 class of education role models was selected by DesignIntelligence staff with extensive input from thousands of design professionals, academic department heads and students,” the publication’s editors said in announcing this year’s group.

“With an emphasis on hands-on learning, Jim West is known for his compassionate and innovative approach to design education,” they added in a summation of his continuing impact on the profession.

DesignIntelligence is a bi-monthly journal of the Georgia-based Design Futures Council that was founded in 1994 by American Institute of Architects’ James P. Cramer, and Dr. Jonas Salk, who discovered the polio vaccine. From offices near Atlanta, the interdisciplinary network of design, product and construction leaders today explores global trends, challenges and opportunities to advance innovation and shape the future of the design industries and the environment.

Of the 2016 DesignIntelligence honorees, West is one of four from Southeastern Conference institutions of higher learning. Others are at the universities of Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee.

College dean since 2002, he came to MSU in 1998 as associate dean of the School of Architecture. Prior to that, he taught for a number of years at the University of Florida.

A nationally recognized authority in the design of barrier-free environments for handicapped children, West holds three UF degrees, including bachelors in interior design and—with high honors—architecture, as well as a master’s in architecture.

He is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Institute of Architects’ Mississippi Chapter Executive Board and Board of Visitors for the National Architectural Accrediting Board.

The major MSU academic unit West leads includes the School of Architecture and its Carl Small Town Center, Gulf Coast Community Design Studio and Design Research Informatics Laboratory, along with the department of art and academic programs in building construction science and interior design.

The architecture program is the only one accredited in Mississippi that leads to professional licensure. The studio-based building construction science program is one of only two in the U.S. For more, see www.caad.msstate.edu/caad/home.

For additional information on the Design Futures Council and its annual honors program, visit www.designfuturescouncil.com.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.