Doug Otto, president of United Way of Bartholomew County, Inc., recently expressed his gratitude to Jan Banister, assistant professor and chair of the Interior Design program of the Ivy Tech-Columbus School of Fine Arts & Design, and two Ivy Tech Community College-Columbus interior design students, Hayli Hopkins and Dawn Shepherd, for their assistance in helping United Way agency staff members with their move back into the United Way Center.

In a recent letter, Otto said, “As you know, we had a big wish list of support we needed in order to manage the move of seventeen agencies back into the Center. With your help and the assistance of Hayli Hopkins and Dawn Shepherd, we not only achieved our goal in a timely manner, but we conquered it with ease.”

Shepherd and Hopkins, students in Banister’s Contract Design course, held during the fall semester, worked 100 hours in the classroom and 60 hours, each, outside the classroom to inventory donated furniture and plan work spaces for the staffs of all of the agencies moving back into the United Way building, which burned in December of 2009.

The furniture, donated from manufacturers, organizations, and private individuals, including desks, chairs, filing cabinets, panels with hanging storage, credenzas, shelving units, work stations, etc., was stored in four different locations throughout the city. Shepherd and Hopkins went to each of the four facilities to create an inventory of all of the items, categorizing them for future use.

The students interviewed the staffs of every agency that was planning to move back into the United Way building to learn their space needs and to design appropriate areas and placement of furniture within those areas.

Banister commented, “I was pleased with what the students learned from this service project, especially since their learning was beyond either a lecture or a textbook—they learned from actually doing the work. The experience is valuable in the design workplace, as it parallels what designers are called upon to do regularly.”