Kijeong Jeon

MIARC, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

BFA, California College of Arts, San Francisco, CA

Kijeong Jeon is a Professor of Interior Architecture at California State University Chico. Before joining CSU Chico, he spent ten years working in the San Francisco Bay Area as an environmental designer, developing branded environments for major US corporations. He has received numerous design awards and recognitions, including 'Critiq' Magazine's Annual Design Award in the environmental design category. Recently he received the IIDA (International Interior Design Association) Foundation Diversity Award. The Diversity Award recognizes and celebrates an educator who represents a diverse background, and makes a significant contribution to interior design education today. Not only does Kijeong encourage his students to demonstrate social responsibility through design, but he is also making his mark by designing for people living with autism and other developmental disabilities.

Aside from teaching, Kijeong's main focus is conducting research and design on the built environment and its efficacy on mood and behavior improvement with individuals with cognitive impairments or autism. He was an alive interviewee on KLCC radio (NPR affiliate), discussing Autism and Multi-Sensory Environments. Jeon has also contributed articles in School Construction News and Healthy Building Science Magazine about autism and environmental design. He was listed in the Interior Design section of 'Encyclopedia of Creativity V.3'.

One of his passions is teaching art programs for autistic clients.