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100 YEARS OF NEW YORK SCHOOL OF INTERIOR DESIGN: 1916–2016 | NOTABLE FACULTY FROM NYSID’S PAST
ROBERT A. KING | 2002
The principal/owner of Robert Arthur King Architects, King is a certified interior designer and licensed architect who specializes in restoring historic buildings. He has taught a broad range of courses during his 20-plus years at NYSID, including Basic Drafting, Construction Documents and Historic Preservation, and, most recently, Codes and Building Systems classes (he considers the latter topic to be “the heart of the building”). King was elected to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows in 2014. BARBARA LOWENTHAL | 2003
As associate dean at NYSID, Lowenthal oversees the College’s graduate programs. She teaches classes across the BFA, MFA-1, and MFA-2 programs, among them Design Studios, Thesis Preparation, and Thesis. ANNE KORMAN | 2004
Following an early career as a modern dancer, Korman graduated from NYSID with a Design Diploma. She became a faculty member in 1976, teaching Residential Design in the undergraduate program and continues to teach at the College, specializing in design presentation skills and the creation of color and materials schemes. Korman has served on the Board of Trustees for many years. ROBERT J. HARDING | 2005
One of the longest-serving faculty members, Harding is also a practicing artist and has exhibited in galleries in New York and Europe. His very first class was a weeklong seminar on the subway—“a perfect place to look at environmental design and to deal with the impact of environment on people,” he says. He has taught a variety courses, but is perhaps best known for the popular Visual Concepts, which he has taught continually since 1977. RICHARD TODD CLASS | 2006
Class received an architectural degree from the New York Institute of Technology. He has worked at architecture firms and then started his own IT firm specializing in supporting the architecture, engineering, and construction industries. He has taught at NYSID since the late 1990s, teaching
Contract Design and Interior Design Studio. Class is also NYSID’s assistant dean for academic technologies, a role he has had since 2013. RENÉ B. ESTACIO | 2007
An interior designer, architect, and graduate of NYSID, Estacio has taught at the College since 1998. He teaches the popular Furniture Design courses as well as undergraduate Residential Design I, II, and III and graduate design studios. He has worked as a designer at John Saladino, Inc. and Thierry Despont, Ltd, and was director of design at Baker Furniture and the McGuire Furniture Company. He currently serves as the faculty representative on NYSID’s Board of Trustees.
and an MA recipient in the history of decorative arts and design from Cooper Hewitt—Whitlock taught Basic Drafting, Residential Design I and II for 15 years. She also served as associate dean from 2011 to 2014. A solo practitioner based in Connecticut, she works on projects across the United States. TERRY E. KLEINBERG | 2012
Kleinberg, head of her own architecture firm, designs commercial and residential interiors. She has taught design studio classes at NYSID for more than 20 years, most recently Thesis Preparation and Thesis in the MFA-1 program. She was also the faculty representative to NYSID’s Board of Trustees for six years. CHRISTOPHER WELSH | 2013
LARRY MERSEL | 2008
Architect Larry Mersel has taught at NYSID since 1995. He runs an architecture firm in New Jersey and prior to that he was a project designer at Haines Lundberg Waehler. In addition to teaching Perspective and Architectural Woodwork Detailing at NYSID, he is an accomplished pen-and-ink and watercolor artist.
Welsh has been on the faculty since 1990, and served as director of academic affairs from 1991 to 1994. Courses he has taught include Perspective Drawing and Construction Detailing. Welsh received his BArch from Pratt Institute in 1979 and worked at William Breger & Associates and Breger Terjesen Associates. VALERIE E. MEAD | 2014
VICTOR DADRAS | 2009
A longtime NYSID faculty member, Dadras is a partner at Dadras Architects, a firm that works on commercial, residential, and healthcare facilities. He has taught Contract Design III, Survey of Healthcare Environments, and Healthcare Studio I courses and served as the program director of the MPS Healthcare Interior Design program from 2012 to 2015. JUDITH B. GURA | 2010
Gura teaches design history and theory at NYSID. Backed by an encyclopedic knowledge of design history—from the ancient world through the 20th century—she teaches Historical Styles I and II, Design Theory, and Design History Seminar. Gura is also a prolific author whose writings include New York Interior Design, 1935–1985; Sourcebook of Scandinavian Furniture: Designs for the 21st Century; and Design After Modernism: Furniture and Interiors, 1970–2010. VERONICA P. WHITLOCK | 2011
An alumna of NYSID—as well as a cum laude graduate of Duke University
After receiving her BFA from NYSID in 1999, Mead joined the faculty in 2002 and served as president of the NYSID Alumni Council from 2008 to 2012. After working at Gensler, she opened her own residential design firm. She is also an award-winning floral designer and a member of the Garden Club of America. ROBERT DADRAS | 2015
Dadras is a partner at Dadras Architects with his brother Victor Dadras. He has served on the NYSID faculty for 20 years as a design studio instructor in the BFA program, teaching Contract Design III. His service to the profession includes leading student participation in the annual NY11+ Albany and Manhattan events. DONNA J. GOODMAN | 2016
An interior designer and architect, scholar, writer, filmmaker, and educator, Goodman has taught at NYSID since 1995 in the BFA, MFA-1, and MFA-2 programs teaching Design Process, Design Studio I, and Design and Drawing I & II.