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Alumni Awards List

MICHELE WILLETT WILSON was an award-winning student while pursuing the Bachelor of Interior Architecture at K-State. A 1990 cum laude graduate, Michele was a member of Tau Sigma Delta Honor Society, a recipient of the David Earle Memorial Scholarship, and an award winner in competitions as varied as the Espresso Royale prototype design contest, a CBS Album Cover contest, a National Space Society External Tank Design contest, the 1989 Flax Art and Design Cover, and the 1990 International Woodworking Fair.

Originally from Topeka, Kansas, Michele's love from early childhood education through high school education was art. During her junior year of high school, Michele's art teacher and advisor recommended that she look at career options that would use her artistic talent without committing to a degree in art in order to avoid limiting herself to a career in teaching. Michele discovered that she loved drafting courses and therefore set out to receive an architecture degree. She chose K-State because of its strong emphasis on design. The projects she was most passionate about were those focused on interiors, and Michele steered in that direction for her degree and for the ten years following graduation. Following periods of employment with Horst, Terrill and Karst Architects, Topeka, and Hesston Business Interiors, Wichita, Michele spent the next seven years at Jeff Krehbiel Associates of Wichita, working primarily on hotels and traveling extensively. While at Jeff Krehbiel Associates, Michele did programming, space planning and interior finishes at J.P. Weigand's East Wichita Residential Office; several St. Joseph Hospital family practice clinics; and initial programming through space planning and interior finishes, furnishings and equipment for 38 Summer Field Suites and 17 Sierra Suites Hotels across the U.S. She was also senior designer for Homestead Assisted Living Prototype Plus locations, as well as Willie C's, Amarillo Grill, and Scotch Grille restaurants.

In May of 1997, Michele and her husband bought a 30-year-old house in Wichita and spent three months renovating it from its vintage 1969 décor. In February of 1998, they welcomed their son, Matthew. Travel became difficult and Michele saw the need to either slow down her work pace or take a sabbatical from interior architecture/design. Shortly after making the decision to leave Jeff Krehbiel Associates, Michele had the opportunity to purchase a custom frame shop and art gallery. Ironically, the previous owner was returning to college to pursue a degree in art education! While the gallery is much more time consuming than Michele expected, she finds it quite enjoyable and is still able to use her design skills while helping customers and in the gallery itself--without having to travel away from home.