Clara Ridder (1912-2012) came to Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), in 1959 as professor in the Department of Interior Design. She retired in 1979. She was an author and held a patent on a chair design. Ridder discusses the improvement of the interior design department over the years despite its lack of funding and support by Dean Naomi Albanese. She emphasizes the rigor of the field, the quality of her students and the toughness of her teaching. She recalls her academic career and her struggle to enter a School of Architecture or take architecture coursework because she was female. She explains that interior design is about space relationships, form and proportion.
