The Educational Foundation (EF) of the International Furnishings and Design Association (IFDA), announced its design student scholarship winners for 2023. Since the early years of this 76-year-old global design industry alliance, EF has awarded scholarships to high-achieving design students. This year the nine scholarship winners received a total of $19,000. The judging was conducted by a subset of the EF’s Board of Trustees.

Applicants must be currently enrolled and scholarships are paid to the school for the 2023 fall semester tuition. The nine scholarship winners share a passion for creating interior environments that are healthy, sustainable and enhance the quality of life, while also serving diverse populations and drawing upon many cultures. They are as follows:

Alexandra Kasson of Miami University in Columbus, Ohio, won the IFDA Leaders Commemorative Scholarship for $1,500 open to full-time undergraduate students. Kasson is a rising senior interior design major and sustainability minor, graduating in May 2024. She is vice president of the Miami University IIDA Chapter and is a member of Alpha Rho Chi.

The Part-Time Student Scholarship for $1,500 open to undergraduate students was awarded to Tameka Hamilton of Seminole State College in Sanford, Florida. Currently, as an assistant principal, Hamilton has had 17 wonderful years of fostering and cultivating the minds of our youth.

Isabel Dingus, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, was the winner of the IFDA Student Member Scholarship for $2,000 open to full-time undergraduate IFDA student members. The Vercille Voss IFDA Graduate Student Scholarship for $2,000 open to full- or part-time graduate students went to Farzane Omidi, a PhD student in the Interior and Environmental Design Program at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.  

Penia Bernstein of the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, won the Ruth Clark Furniture Design Scholarship for $4,000 open to full- or part-time undergraduate or graduate students with a course emphasis on furniture design.

Zariah Fowler, a senior at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan, studying Interior Design, was awarded the Tricia LeVangie Green/Sustainable Design Scholarship for $1,500 for full- or part-time undergraduate students.

Sarah Clark, a fibers student at Savannah College of Art & Design in Savannah, Georgia, was named the winner of the Barbara Beckmann Textile Design Scholarship for $3,000. The scholarship is open to full- or part-time undergraduate and graduate students with course emphasis on textile design.

The IFDA Philadelphia Scholarship for Interior Design for $2,500 was awarded to James Dzwil, a fourth-year student in the Interior Architecture and Design Program at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla. The scholarship is open to two-, three- or four-year interior design or related program students.  

Linh Ha, an undergraduate at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts, studying Interior Architecture, won the Window Fashion Certified Professionals Fast Track Scholarship for $1,000 (one full registration for the webinar series) that is open to undergraduates in a two- or three-year interior design or related program.