Ph.D., Auburn University, 2018, Consumer & Design Sciences
M.S., Auburn University, 2012, Consumer & Design Sciences

An award-winning interior designer, Dr. Anna Ruth Gatlin transitioned to full-time academia in 2017 after a career practicing institutional, commercial, healthcare, and educational design as a University Interior Designer. In that role she worked on over 500 projects ranging from 100SF renovations to 240,000SF new construction. Dr. Gatlin’s extensive practice experience informs her teaching style, as she weaves “the real world” into the classroom in a variety of ways. Her approach to teaching difficult material in a practical way earned her the accolade “Top 25 Most Admired Educator,” by DesignIntelligence three years in a row. She teaches the History of Interior Design lecture courses and the Commercial Design studio, which is sponsored by an international furniture manufacturer and a regional furniture dealer, allowing Dr. Gatlin to bring workplace challenges, tools, and resources directly to the students. Dr. Gatlin has an established record of scholarly contributions pertaining to educational design and creative scholarship. Many of her creative scholarship works examine aspects of southeastern life through an autoethnographic lens, executed in heritage fiber arts techniques. Her scholarly works are not relegated to her own output, however: Dr. Gatlin mentors undergraduate researchers outside of her yearly course load. She also established and coordinates an annual interior design essay competition that blends history of interior design with theories related to interior design. Dr. Gatlin enjoys giving back to both her local community and the design community; she applies her expertise in the history of interior design and its practical administration in her role as board member of the Auburn Heritage Association and as a consultant with the Opelika Historic Preservation Commission. She was also asked to serve on the advisory board of a start-up furniture company, Form Furniture.

Gatlin, A.R., Swearingen, S.A., & Tan, L. (2022). COVID-19 Study Spaces: Supportive adaptation of home learning environments during the pandemic. Journal of Learning Spaces 11(1).

Gatlin, A.R., & Gatlin, M. (2022). A guide to the historic Jekyll Island club: Walking tour of the island’s rich history and architecture. Brentwood Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-7375753-0-6

Gatlin, A.R. (2022). Connecting…? In a virtual world. Juried by and exhibited at the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Annual National Conference, Orlando, FL.

Gatlin, A.R. & Bice, S. (2022). QR meta pillow. Juried by and exhibited at the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Annual National Conference, Orlando, FL.

Gatlin, A.R. (2022). Warped: Demographic disparities woven in design. Juried by and exhibited at the Interior Design Educators South Regional Conference, Spartanburg, SC.

Gatlin, A.R. & Bice, S. (2022). Worthy. Juried by and exhibited at the Interior Design Educators Council South Regional Conference, Spartanburg, SC.

Gatlin, A.R., Kuhn, W., Doukopoulos, L., Boyd, D., & McCall, C. (2021). Successful at scale: 500 faculty, 39 classrooms, 6 years. Journal of Learning Spaces, 10(1). (40% contribution)

Tan, L., & Gatlin, A.R. (2020). The Working Labs model in action. International Journal of Designs for Learning, 11(2), 108-117. https://doi.org/10.14434/ijdl.v11i2.25649

• IDEC Service Award: IDEC (2021)
• DesignIntelligence Most Admired Educator (2017, 2018, 2019)
• First Place, Institutional Design: International Interior Design Association IDIE Awards, Alabama Chapter
 (2019)
• First Place, New Construction: AUID (2017)
• Second Place, New Construction: AUID (2017)
• 2nd Place, Specialty: AUID (2017)
• First Place, Furniture Installations Under 40,000SF: International Interior Design Association IDIE Awards,
  Alabama Chapter (2017)
• First Place, $150,000-500,000: AUID (2016)
• First Place, Under $50,000: AUID (2016).