By Heather Carlile Carter, PhD, Assistant Professor, Interior Design
Johnson County Community College (JCCC) measures the impact of academic research by its ability to move beyond the confines of textbooks and classrooms and into the lives of individuals. One way this occurs is through the College Scholars awards program. JCCC dedicates this program to showcasing faculty excellence in research. It emphasizes contributions that extend beyond the classroom by providing a venue for faculty research to enrich academic understanding. College Scholars recipients present two distinct sessions—an evening lecture tailored for a general audience and a daytime presentation for students, faculty, and staff. In this way, research filters into students’ learning experiences and the community at large.
Research that informs the classroom experience
For the 2023-2024 academic school year, Dr. Heather Carlile Carter, Assistant Professor of Interior Design, received one of the four awards from JCCC’s College Scholars Program to study older-adult household transitions. This transition process is often a family affair that involves parting with most possessions. The ubiquity of self-storage facilities within the U.S. is a poignant reminder of our reluctance at all ages to get rid of our stuff. Self-storage is an annual $40 billion industry, with the number of business locations surpassing the combined count of major fast-food/coffee chains.
For older adults and their families, the journey can be exponentially more challenging. The difficulty arises not just from the physical act of letting go but from the emotional attachment we have to artifacts that represent our life stories – stories that, because of the lateness of life, cannot be repeated.
A more recent introduction to the downsizing challenge is that millennials, as a generation, are not really interested in accepting their parents’ or grandparents’ stuff. Although we do not have to view this as negative, it is a bump in the road for older people who are trying to provide a safe passage for family heirlooms. There are as many ways to handle the process as there are families, and it’s important to know there is not one right way. Ongoing efforts from research studies, self-help publications, and businesses such as senior move managers, help us to better understand downsizing at this scale.
Dr. Carlile Carter’s research is particularly relevant in her residential studio courses, where it informs design critiques and encourages students to think beyond the conventional boundaries of their discipline. The integration of evidence-based design into the curriculum fosters a holistic approach to interior design that prioritizes the needs and sentiments of individuals over fleeting trends or a designer’s personal preferences.
Helping shape tomorrow’s professionals with real-world experiences
Because JCCC’s Interior Design program includes a broad range of students — from high school graduates to professionals with degrees retooling their skills — the studio atmosphere incorporates lively discussions about this real-life topic from multigenerational perspectives. One student responded to Dr. Carlile Carter’s daytime research presentation, “I’m looking forward to sharing this information with my mom when I go home for the holidays. I know she will find it fascinating.” Another older student shared, “I’m going through this with my parents.”
JCCC’s commitment to incorporating faculty research into the classroom experience empowers students to be conscientious designers for the public at large. Students recognize the responsibility they have in shaping the spaces where people work and live.
A video recording of Dr. Carlile Carter’s presentation, titled “Rightsizing home while upsizing well-being: Reimagining older adult possession management,” is available on the JCCC YouTube page.
