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Audio interview with Dee McDonald-Miller, 2014 Jan 24

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Scope and Contents

In this audio recording, Parsons School of Design Environmental Design alumna Dee MacDonald-Miller is interviewed by Joel Towers, executive dean of Parsons, and Wendy Scheir, director of the New School Archives and Special Collections. MacDonald-Miller discusses her childhood and upbringing in New Jersey, with particular emphasis on the art school application and selection process. She describes her education at Parsons and its interdisciplinary approach, and its subsequent influence on her practice. Additionally, MacDonald-Miller details her friendships and relationships built at Parsons, including Kedakai Lipton, Casey Coates, and James Drake.

Dates

  • 2014 Jan 24

Extent

2 digital_recordings (00:18:30 duration; includes PDF transcript)

Participant Biography

Dee MacDonald-Miller is managerial director in the Tenant Representation Division of Jones Lang LaSalle, a Fortune 500 investment management company specializing in real estate. She received her BFA in environmental design and interior architecture from Parsons School of Design in 1975. After graduation she worked as an interior designer for the Hillier Group, an international architecture firm. With more than five years of experience as an architectural interior designer, MacDonald joined The Staubach Company. When The Staubach Company merged into Jones Lang LaSalle seventeen years later, she was a senior vice president. Her real estate transactions have amounted to more than twelve million square feet of space ranging from a Coca-Cola bottling facility to the World Wildlife Fund Washington, DC offices to the K12 Headquarters in Virginia. In addition to her professional work, MacDonald is also the chair of the DC Parsons Alumni Chapter and creator of the DC Alumni Chapter Scholarship, which supports Parsons students from Washington, DC in financial need. She serves on the advisory board of Girl Scouts of the National Capital Region and is a member of Parsons Alumni Association Board of Directors.