Profile
An Albany New York native, I attended high school at the Academy of the Holy Names where my interest in the humanities, art, and medicine was piqued. My undergraduate and graduate experiences at the University of Buffalo set the stage for a diverse academic and professional career. In addition to my undergraduate psychology and graduate architecture degrees I am a professional interior designer, certified by the National Council for Interior Design through qualification exams and required practice.
As a tenured, associate professor and undergraduate program director for the BFA, interior design program at Rochester Institute of Technology I teach in and head a Council for Interior Design Accredited (CIDA) program. I lead a progressive interior design curriculum with a strong multidisciplinary and collaborative approach and have guided the program through two successful accreditation reviews. Under my direction, the program imparts a competitive curriculum in a rigorous, student-centered learning environment with a commitment to celebrating individual capabilities and advancing the program as a collaborative collective.
Research investigations place emphasis on fostering agency and self-reliance through human centered design-build projects that address critical global issues advancing the right of every person to live in a socially, economically, and environmentally just community. My scholarship creates faculty-student-stakeholder partnerships across campuses and borders, most notably in RIT Hope for Honduras, a multidisciplinary effort that I initiated and have directed since 2017. RIT Hope for Honduras, a campus wide initiative, aims to assist in-country partners with reducing infant mortality through design and technology solutions. Grounded in the principles of universal design, my research seeks to create healing types of architecture and interior environments while enacting global citizenry in students. Conceptually inspired from my personal practice, and developed through collaborative faculty-student research, the MObile KItchen (MO:KI) affords flexibility in organizing a cooking environment responsive to the needs of the home chef, regardless of age, stature, and ability. The prototypes are currently in research and development at RIT’s LiveAbility Lab, where I am an affiliated faculty.
My scholarly work and research are disseminated internationally both by invitation and through competitive, peer reviewed jury award. RIT Hope for Honduras and MO:KI were both shown at NYCxDesign, North America’s premiere design week where the global design community gathers each May. I disseminate scholarship within my discipline through Interior Design Educators' Council and at international design conferences such as the World Design Summit (Montreal). The diversity of my research pushes the boundaries of normative interior design and therefore, creates opportunity for scholarship engagement at cross disciplinary international venues including the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (New York), a medical conference attracting providers from across the globe, and Autodesk University (Las Vegas), an annual technology conference introducing cutting edge software and state-of-the-art applications. With the completion and in service of the neonatal ambulance in Honduras during spring 2022 dissemination opportunities will expand to include the medical automotive industry.
Prior to joining RIT as the undergraduate program director in 2015, I was the curriculum coordinator for the interior design program at Alfred State College where I taught in the baccalaureate architecture and associate interior design programs, first as a lecturer and then as an assistant professor from 2008 to 2014. I was also the sustainability design coordinator where I developed and implemented curriculum materials for the architecture and interior programs. I wrote new courses and contributed to the department’s proposal to National Architecture Accrediting Board (NAAB) for B. Arch candidacy. I started my teaching career as an adjunct instructor for Monroe Community College where I taught introductory interior design lecture and studio courses from 2005-2007.
Professionally, I have more than eighteen years of design experience, across multiple bioregions. I established the first company in Western New York, Gaiatecture Design Studio (rebranded as Mary Golden | Design Studio), after graduating in 2002 with a master’s degree in architecture from the University at Buffalo merging innovative architectural and interior solutions with natural building practices. The company specialized in natural building technologies and clay finish plasters and evolved in 2013 to include sustainable, custom interiors and hybrid projects that integrated mainstream materials and ecological systems. Interior design services focused on high-end custom residential, small-scale commercial, retail and restaurant clientele. My professional work led to publication invitations from colleagues across the country. I contributed to the introduction for the book Ecokids: Raising Children Who Care for the Earth and my professional work is featured in the book Space Matters.
At the heart of my work is a personal philosophy intent on being a whole systems thinker who creates, leads, and teaches about a built environment that is not only significant but fully responsive to global challenges.
As a tenured, associate professor and undergraduate program director for the BFA, interior design program at Rochester Institute of Technology I teach in and head a Council for Interior Design Accredited (CIDA) program. I lead a progressive interior design curriculum with a strong multidisciplinary and collaborative approach and have guided the program through two successful accreditation reviews. Under my direction, the program imparts a competitive curriculum in a rigorous, student-centered learning environment with a commitment to celebrating individual capabilities and advancing the program as a collaborative collective.
Research investigations place emphasis on fostering agency and self-reliance through human centered design-build projects that address critical global issues advancing the right of every person to live in a socially, economically, and environmentally just community. My scholarship creates faculty-student-stakeholder partnerships across campuses and borders, most notably in RIT Hope for Honduras, a multidisciplinary effort that I initiated and have directed since 2017. RIT Hope for Honduras, a campus wide initiative, aims to assist in-country partners with reducing infant mortality through design and technology solutions. Grounded in the principles of universal design, my research seeks to create healing types of architecture and interior environments while enacting global citizenry in students. Conceptually inspired from my personal practice, and developed through collaborative faculty-student research, the MObile KItchen (MO:KI) affords flexibility in organizing a cooking environment responsive to the needs of the home chef, regardless of age, stature, and ability. The prototypes are currently in research and development at RIT’s LiveAbility Lab, where I am an affiliated faculty.
My scholarly work and research are disseminated internationally both by invitation and through competitive, peer reviewed jury award. RIT Hope for Honduras and MO:KI were both shown at NYCxDesign, North America’s premiere design week where the global design community gathers each May. I disseminate scholarship within my discipline through Interior Design Educators' Council and at international design conferences such as the World Design Summit (Montreal). The diversity of my research pushes the boundaries of normative interior design and therefore, creates opportunity for scholarship engagement at cross disciplinary international venues including the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (New York), a medical conference attracting providers from across the globe, and Autodesk University (Las Vegas), an annual technology conference introducing cutting edge software and state-of-the-art applications. With the completion and in service of the neonatal ambulance in Honduras during spring 2022 dissemination opportunities will expand to include the medical automotive industry.
Prior to joining RIT as the undergraduate program director in 2015, I was the curriculum coordinator for the interior design program at Alfred State College where I taught in the baccalaureate architecture and associate interior design programs, first as a lecturer and then as an assistant professor from 2008 to 2014. I was also the sustainability design coordinator where I developed and implemented curriculum materials for the architecture and interior programs. I wrote new courses and contributed to the department’s proposal to National Architecture Accrediting Board (NAAB) for B. Arch candidacy. I started my teaching career as an adjunct instructor for Monroe Community College where I taught introductory interior design lecture and studio courses from 2005-2007.
Professionally, I have more than eighteen years of design experience, across multiple bioregions. I established the first company in Western New York, Gaiatecture Design Studio (rebranded as Mary Golden | Design Studio), after graduating in 2002 with a master’s degree in architecture from the University at Buffalo merging innovative architectural and interior solutions with natural building practices. The company specialized in natural building technologies and clay finish plasters and evolved in 2013 to include sustainable, custom interiors and hybrid projects that integrated mainstream materials and ecological systems. Interior design services focused on high-end custom residential, small-scale commercial, retail and restaurant clientele. My professional work led to publication invitations from colleagues across the country. I contributed to the introduction for the book Ecokids: Raising Children Who Care for the Earth and my professional work is featured in the book Space Matters.
At the heart of my work is a personal philosophy intent on being a whole systems thinker who creates, leads, and teaches about a built environment that is not only significant but fully responsive to global challenges.
Education
M. Arch
The State University of New York at Buffalo
Master of Architecture, 2002
BA
The State University of New York at Buffalo
Psychology, BA with High Distinction: Magna Cum Laude Honors, 1990
The State University of New York at Buffalo
Master of Architecture, 2002
BA
The State University of New York at Buffalo
Psychology, BA with High Distinction: Magna Cum Laude Honors, 1990
Certifications
2016 National Council for Interior Design Qualification, Certificate No. 31717