VS America Names New Education Director

Furniture solutions company VS America recently announced that it has named Jill Ackers as its new Education Director, responsible for the company’s educational planning and professional development. A news release reports that Ackers has more than 25 years’ experience in school design, education and leadership positions in both K–12 and higher ed environments, as well as being a certified learning environment planner with A4LE.

Ackers’ new role will focus on researching the learning environment patterns required for agile space design, supporting the connection between pedagogy and space, the news release reports. Her previous partnerships with architecture firms, interior designers and furniture vendors have fleshed out her experience in designing responsive, flexible and agile spaces during all phases of the process, from the master planning phase to schematic design to design development.

Jill Ackers VS America
Jill Ackers
Photo Courtesy of VS America

“She has successfully engaged school boards, leaders, and educators in short-term and long-term visioning, strategic planning, and professional development to align and utilize innovative spaces with instructional delivery methods,” according to the news release. “She has developed extensive lessons-learned libraries through experiential research and collected data through post-occupancy studies to share how building design and classroom layout impact student achievement and well-being.”

In her position as Education Director, she’ll focus on educational planning for K–12 and higher education environments; designing and implementing professional development in schools; and communicating with architecture firms, design firms and dealer partners.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Miami University Approves New $242M Multipurpose Arena

    Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, recently announced that its Board of Trustees has approved construction of a new multipurpose arena at Cook Field, according to university news. The $242-million project will serve as a new centralized hub for student life and create space for economic development on campus.

  • Full Sail University Announces First Student Housing Facility

    Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla., recently announced that development has begun on its first student housing community, according to a news release. The university is partnering with Nvision Development for construction and long-term management of the facility, which will stand five stories and have the capacity for more than 570 beds.

  • North Texas School District Completes Third New Elementary School

    The Denton Independent School District in Dallas, Texas, recently finished construction on its third prototype design elementary school, Reeves Elementary, according to a news release.

  • California School District Completes Elementary School Modernization

    The San Diego Unified School District in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting for a whole-site modernization of Pacific Beach Elementary School, according to local news. The school first opened with one building in 1930 and added six more between 1938 and 1957.