The Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education plans to become a major resource for the acquisition and distribution of instructional materials and information for use by educators in the teaching of lighting design.
“It is our intention to expand what The Nuckolls Fund does, beyond the present grant and award programs, to encourage the study of lighting design by becoming a communications resource for comprehensive instruction in this design discipline,” says Nuckolls Fund president Jeffrey A. Milham.
The first major educational resource is the seven-module course guide, “Lighting Across the Design Curriculum,” developed by a team of lighting educators led by Professor Katherine S. Ankerson of Kansas State University. It was funded by a $50,000 Nuckolls Fund Twentieth Anniversary Grant awarded in 2010. “The idea underpinning ‘Lighting Across the Design Curriculum’ is that lighting is so critical to all aspects of design,” says Professor Ankerson, “that the study of light and lighting must be initiated early in a student’s design education and carried throughout the design educational process with multiple topics.”
The Nuckolls Fund, founded in 1989 to honor lighting education pioneer James Nuckolls, has given a total of $845,000 through 2013 to colleges and universities for the development and expansion of lighting coursework, to instructors who teach lighting, and to outstanding students enrolled in lighting design programs. “This is a totally new departure for us,” says Milham, “but it is an excellent opportunity for The Nuckolls Fund to extend its reach for the betterment of lighting design education.” “Lighting Across the Design Curriculum” is now available at no charge on the Fund’s newly redesigned website, www.nuckollsfund.org, in the Educational Resources section.
Each of the seven modules comprising “Lighting Across the Design Curriculum” has explanatory material enhanced by annotated images. Modules are titled: Light as a Design Element; Digital Interface of Lighting; Light Shade and Shadow Informing Design in 3D; Historical Examination of Use of Light; Effect of Light on Material Application; Topic-based Modules for Upper Level Studios; and Lighting for a Sustainable Future.
Another teaching module, “Lighting Controls—Tools for Teaching,” is also posted on the Nuckolls Fund website. It was developed by Erin Speck from The George Washington University as a result of being awarded a Nuckolls Fund 2012 Edison Price Fellowship Grant. Her intended use of the module by interior design instructors is to provide a foundation in lighting controls for interior design students to understand the integration of lighting and lighting controls early in the design process.
The Nuckolls Fund was one of several sponsors of the Illuminating Engineering Society’s Symposium, “Light+Seniors—A Vision for the Future,” held in March, 2012. The proceedings from that symposium are also available on The Nuckolls Fund’s new website.
“The posting and free distribution of ‘Lighting Across the Design Curriculum,’ ‘Lighting Controls—Tools for Teaching,’ and the IES Symposium Proceedings for ‘Light+Seniors—A Vision for the Future,’ all represent an exciting new direction for The Nuckolls Fund,” says Milham, who has led the volunteer organization since its founding. “Our goal continues to be the development and expansion of programs in lighting education, and the search for creativity, diversity, and innovative approaches to lighting education,” Milham affirms.