Contact: Sammy McDavid
For the second consecutive year, a Mississippi State interior design major is among a select group of nearly 30 university students taking part in a national summer training program.
Senior Lauren M. Hoover of Winona is one of 29 interior design, architecture and industrial design majors scheduled to attend "Steelcase University," an intensive, four-week career preparation and orientation program held annually in Grand Rapids, Mich. Twenty-five of the students come from American schools; the rest are enrolled in international institutions.
Now in its fifth year, the program is the creation of Grand Rapids-based Steelcase Inc., the world's largest designer and manufacturer of office furniture. The company employees 19,000 people worldwide and has annual sales of nearly $3 billion.
Hoover is president of the campus chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers. Salutatorian of her 1995 Winona High School senior class, she is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Dennis Hoover of Winona and Pam Hoover of Aberdeen, Scotland.
Her training class begins June 4 and concludes July 1. Last year's class included MSU senior Cristi C. Moore of Starkville.
"As Cristi did, Lauren and the others will be meeting with the leaders of major design and architectural firms," said Margaret S. Bateman, director of the MSU School of Human Sciences' interior design program.
Participants also receive hands-on training in product design, development and presentation. Additionally, they will travel to Chicago for the industry's largest trade show.
"Steelcase University gives top students a unique personal channel for learning more about the future of the workplace and how to design for it, about client expectations and ways to build relationships, and about the varied business aspects of interior design careers and how to manage them," Bateman said.
Hoover also is serving as vice president of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Ambassadors, a student recruiting and alumni liaison organization. Her honor societies include Golden Key, Phi Kappa Phi, Gamma Beta Phi, and Kappa Omicron Nu.