Exactly a decade ago, on July 24, 2012, David Sprouls accepted the position as president of the New York School of Interior Design, transitioning from a role as interim president. Sprouls began his career at NYSID much earlier, in 2000, as director of admissions, and became vice president of enrollment management in 2008, before he took the helm of the college in 2012. In an era in which the average term of a college president is 6 to 7 years, NYSID has a president who has brought stability, equanimity and progress, and evolved with the institution over the course of 22 years.

“I can boldly state that President Sprouls is an extremely fair, honest, diligent, caring mentor and leader. He takes every situation and analyzes it thoroughly, coming up with the best solutions for all participants involved,” says Ellen Kravet, who has served as Chair of NYSID’s Board of Trustees for almost 5 years. “He led the faculty, the administration and our students through the vast struggles of COVID-19, while maintaining a high standard of education and financial stability, and continues to do so. We are fortunate to have President Sprouls as our leader.”

To mark his 10th anniversary as president, we’re asking David Sprouls to reflect on his decade of leadership, and share his thoughts on what’s next for the College.             

NYSID: Not everyone knows you have degrees in both art history and the restoration of decorative arts, and that you once worked as a researcher at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What do you admire about the discipline of interior design?

I have always been interested in the built environment and the creative process of fine and decorative artists and makers of every kind. Studying the decorative arts made me appreciate interior designers from the outset and over the years, I have learned so much more. I’m passionate about the impact our graduates have. Interior design is the most intimate of the applied arts. It’s about how we choose to identify with what’s around ourselves. It’s not just about beauty; it’s about wellbeing, functionality, identity and safety, which makes it an incredibly meaningful discipline.       

NYSID: You were NYSID’s Director of Admissions long before you became President. How did this first job at NYSID prepare you for the role of President?

David Sprouls: In my first years as Director of Admissions, I met with and took every prospective student who came to the campus on a tour. I came to understand the types of people who were attracted to the school and those, particularly younger students, we were not reaching. That was invaluable. When I became Vice President of Enrollment Management, and later President, I was able to work seamlessly with the recruiting and marketing teams. I understood how critical it was to build a social and emotional support structure around the academics at NYSID, so that we could become a more cohesive community. We created a dean of students office, expanded club offerings, and brought in a psychologist. We enriched all aspects of student life. This sense of community is one of the most important things we have created together.

NYSID: How would you describe your management style?

DS: In an odd way, I see myself as the conductor of an orchestra. I am at the podium with all the different sections of the orchestra in front of me containing musicians with instruments I may not necessarily know how to play but it is my job to coordinate and give direction.  It’s a challenge but in the end we all produce a beautiful piece of music. I don’t see myself as an expert in all areas. I gather people around me who are those experts. I listen, observe, and ask questions. I let the experts do their jobs.   

NYSID: What are the most significant achievements of your ten-year tenure?

DS: Let me start by saying they are not my achievements, they are our achievements.

• I am proud of the fact that we were regionally accredited, that is we obtained the Middle States Commission on Higher Education accreditation in 2016, the year of NYSID’s centennial. We were subsequently re-accredited in 2021. We are a small, single discipline college, and this Middle States accreditation means the institution is meeting the same standards of educational excellence as much larger colleges with potentially greater name recognition such as NYU and Columbia. This gold-standard accreditation allows us to recruit and fundraise at the same level as our competitors with interior design programs at larger institutions.  I like to think of us as “The Little Engine that Could.” 

• The growth of our online programs is a great communal achievement. Ten years ago, we were excited to get the non-credit Introduction to Interior Design continuing education class online. Since then, we have been able to get our entire undergraduate program online for anyone in the world to access. Students are able to study entirely digitally in both our MPSS and our MPSL, and there are robust hi-flex learning environments in all of our programs.

• There has been a seachange in fundraising for this College. When I began, we were only giving out a couple hundred thousand dollars in scholarships a year. This year we raised more than $700,000 at our gala and we are able to give over a million in scholarships thanks to endowments and investment funds. This is meaningful because it demonstrates that people are rooting for us, that they see and understand the impact this College is having. It’s also important because our scholarship fund is changing the reality of who has access to interior design as a career.

NYSID: It must be difficult to narrow 10 years down to a few achievements!

DS: Indeed, it is. There is one other area I’d like to mention, more a point of progress than an achievement. It’s the work we’ve done on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at NYSID. We’ve only scratched the surface of what must be done in this area, yet we’ve made important strides. We’ve prioritized hiring faculty from groups traditionally unrepresented in interior design, and increased the diversity of the faculty and staff in recent years. We formed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission of trustees, alumni, faculty and staff to advise us on the way forward, and we are integrating their recommendations into our forthcoming strategic plan and setting measurable benchmarks for progress over the next 5 years. Accountability is of paramount importance, so we will soon be releasing the DEI report with a clear action plan for the College. In the meantime, Academic Affairs has recently revamped our curriculum with an eye to making it more inclusive of designers and architects traditionally and historically underrepresented in design. Development is successfully raising money for a new Diversity Scholarship Fund, and with the help of the Kravet family and other supporters, initiated a “Pipeline to Design” through our Pre-College program, giving students who might not have been exposed to interior design their first exposure to the profession. We’ve done a lot, but it’s just the beginning.

NYSID: Over the course of 10 years, what was the biggest challenge?

DS:  The pandemic. Nobody anticipated it or the changes it would bring. Nobody was fully prepared for what hit us. It threw so many things into the air and as well into sharp focus. In hindsight we now know we were well prepared when it hit.  With every member of the college committed to succeed, we came out much stronger than we could have assumed. We threw out our three-year strategic plan and did a one-year strategic plan to address and get us through the crisis. Of course, the pandemic accelerated our digital evolution and online learning. In the wake of the pandemic, we are better at what we do and able to lead in a hi-flex environment.

NYSID: What's next at NYSID? What are your institutional priorities for the next 5 years?

DS: Of course the number one priority is to continue to provide the best and highest quality education to our students through programs and courses that reflect the latest design thinking and practices today as well as those coming in the future.  On top of that, the pandemic showed us that we need to rethink our facilities for the digital age and the era of hybrid work. We need to re-evaluate our spaces with an eye to what our students will need in coming years, so as an interior design school, that’s a priority. It’s important that NYSID build additional connectivity with the profession. Another challenge will be continuing a sense of community in the digital age. We must constantly ask ourselves: How do we bring the essence of the New York School of Interior Design - the culture of this city and this college - into the digital experience? Finally, we cannot let the DEI discussion fall by the wayside. At NYSID, DEI strategy encompasses race, gender, culture, economic differences, sexual orientation, the issues of differently abled people and the transgender community. We will stay the course and do what we can to bring meaningful change to NYSID and further foster a culture that welcomes and supports everyone. Making DEI a focus of every new initiative is another way this College can have a huge impact on the profession.  Onward!

In conclusion, we decided to ask the staff member who has been working at NYSID the longest for insight on what it’s like to work with President Sprouls. Here’s what Luz Garcia, Assistant to the Dean/Office of Academic Affairs Administrator, who has been an employee of NYSID for 35 years has to say about President Sprouls:  “One of his strengths is that he is a genuinely nice guy with everyone…staff, faculty, students.  Has an open door policy and is always willing to hear you and get your feedback. I think two of his major accomplishments are that he initiated the DEI commission and that our scholarships are continuing to grow and I think these go hand in hand. . . . To many more years of him being president!!!”