New Academic Chairs Add to Faculty’s Design Expertise

The new department chairs of Wentworth’s Interior Design and Architecture programs are creating a lot of enthusiasm on campus for the specializations they bring to the university.

Seunghae Lee is an expert on devising accommodations and devices to help the elderly live better lives. Mark Mulligan is a practicing architect and a scholar of contemporary Japanese architecture and urbanism.

Mulligan arrived at Wentworth in May; Lee is expected in July. Each has established a reputation for excellence in both academia and design practice.

Lee has held interior design faculty positions at Oregon State University’s College of Business; Purdue University; California State University, Northridge; and Michigan State University. Her research and publications cover a range of issues including support for older adults’ daily activities in the kitchen and bathroom; layout and residence space planning for continuing care retirement communities; and the need for senior-friendly products to support daily life among elderly in their homes and communities.

Lee has a Ph.D. in facilities design and management from Michigan State University, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in housing and interior design from Yonsei University, Korea. She has published articles in the Journal of Interior Design, Applied Ergonomics, Building & Environment, Indoor & Built Environment, and International Journal of Design. 

Mulligan comes to Wentworth from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design (GSD), where he taught design studios, fabrication, and construction technology for more than 20 years. His research focuses on the architecture and urbanism of contemporary Japan, where he has frequently taken groups of students for field studies. He has written extensively about Japanese design and construction technique; in 2008 he published Nurturing Dreams, an anthology of essays by the Japanese architect-urbanist Fumihiko Maki.  His administrative roles have included directing the GSD’s master’s in architecture program and serving as the Curator of the Loeb Fellowship program.

Mulligan founded his Cambridge-based architectural practice in 1998 and has designed works in New England, Virginia, Costa Rica, Hawaii, and Japan. His work has been published in Dwell, UME, and Fine Homebuilding magazines.  He received his B.A. in architecture from Yale University and master’s in architecture from the Harvard GSD.

--Dennis Nealon