About the Fund
The Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education was established in 1988 to support college-level lighting programs that enable students to learn, appreciate, and apply the basics of lighting and design.
Our Vision
We envision a future where every student entering the design and construction professions understands the power of light to enhance the human experience, shape architecture, improve our health, and affect the environment.
We believe in the singular power of lighting education to enhance the quality of the luminous environment by sustaining a flow of knowledgeable and committed practitioners throughout the design and construction community.
We serve university-level education at design and engineering programs in North America, focusing on new or enhanced content, faculty development, and student scholarships. Tight focus helps us concentrate our impact.
We seek new ideas and approaches from within the education and lighting communities.
We value both accomplishment and potential. Merit drives our democratic decision making.
We practice strict financial discipline, limiting expenses and outlays to what our endowment provides. Acting within our means helps to assure sustainable results.
We invest according to best practices for not-for-profit organizations, balancing expected returns and risks.
We build our endowment so that we can grow and continue what we do.
We raise money from the lighting community to support our activities and to provide a meaningful opportunity for individuals and organizations to give back.
Our challenge to you: let’s do more to raise the quality of the luminous environment and make the world more beautiful through lighting education.
Annual Report
Read the annual report from Fund President, Dan Blitzer:
Leadership
Guided by a board of educators and industry professionals
James L. Nuckolls
The Past, The Future
Though his design work received recognition, Jim Nuckolls’ greatest impact on light was as an educator. He was a dynamic speaker who took the message of the importance of lighting across the United States.
At Parsons School of Design, he introduced lighting in the continuing education program and initiated the curriculum that allowed Parsons to become the first school to give a masters degree in lighting design.
He was instrumental in the development of the International Association of Lighting Designers, served as the first lighting editor for Interiors Magazine, and wrote “Interior Lighting for Environmental Designers,” one of the first text books used to teach lighting in the United States.
With great energy and enthusiasm, he inspired tens of thousands of students and readers with a real understanding of the value of lighting in the built environment. The Nuckolls Fund can have no better mission than to continue his work
Make an investment today
A contribution to the Nuckolls Fund is an investment in the future of the lighting community.