MSU assistant professor listed as ‘One to Watch’ by national interior design society
STARKVILLE, Miss.— According to an MSU press release, Tanaya Deshpande, a Mississippi State assistant professor of interior design, is one of eight scholars being recognized this year through the American Society of Interior Designers’ “Ones to Watch” scholar program.
The annual list, in its 10th year, highlights scholars and interior designers who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, innovation and professional achievement early in their careers.
Deshpande joined the MSU interior design faculty last year and will be teaching interior design fundamentals along with a section of interior design studio II this fall semester.
“I’m looking forward to welcoming the new cohort of freshmen and expanding on my collaborative research projects,” she said.
Deshpande believes her incorporation of her research into the classroom is one of the things that made her stand out among the “Ones to Watch” candidates.
“During the finalist interview with the judges, they were really drawn to how I use graphic recording as a tool, both as an active listening assignment in my classes and as a method in my own research,” Deshpande said.
Her current research interests include using participatory, community-informed methods to understand how interior environments shape belonging and long-term well-being across varied scales and settings. The interior design professor is exploring graphic recording as design pedagogy; design for neurodiversity in healthcare and adjacent institutional settings; and the relation between university culture, social connection and café interiors in college towns.
As a “One to Watch” scholar recipient, Deshpande will receive scholarship support and participation in a two-year leadership development program run by ASID. The initiative teaches those to lead with authenticity through experiential learning, coaching and mentoring. Deshpande said she is excited to gain these additional tools to further support and inspire her students in their own pursuits of their future careers.
“This award means more to me than professional recognition,” Deshpande said. “As someone still becoming the designer and educator I want to be, this recognition reflects the many people—mentors, colleagues, students and communities—shaping that journey. I carry that forward now, with the responsibility to make space for the next generation of designers the way mine has been made for me.”
Deshpande holds a Master of Science in Interior Architecture from Drexel University. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from S.P. Pune University and a graduate diploma in interior design from B.N. College of Architecture for Women, both in Pune, India. She has more than three years of practice experience in India across residential, workplace, educational and hospitality projects. While completing her master’s degree at Drexel, she worked as a research and graduate assistant, and then as a design specialist and graphic facilitator for Illustrating Progress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She previously served as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
MSU’s Department of Interior Design is accredited by both the Council for Interior Design Accreditation and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. Learn more at www.caad.msstate.edu.
See all the ones to watch recipients: https://www.asid.org/resources/awards/ones-to-watch
Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters. Learn more at www.msstate.edu.
