Deborah Dunlap

 Dr. Deborah R. Dunlap is a registered interior designer, educator, and executive and academic leader with more than 25 years of experience spanning professional design practice, higher education, academic administration, curriculum development, and corporate learning and development.

Dunlap earned her Doctor of Executive Leadership from the University of Charleston and Master of Science in Architecture from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where her graduate research focused on beginning design students and design education. A Winthrop alumna, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design through Winthrop's accredited Interior Design program (then FIDER, now CIDA). She is NCIDQ-certified and a Registered Interior Designer in North Carolina.

Her higher-education career encompasses teaching and curriculum development across the interior design curriculum, from beginning design through advanced residential and commercial studios, architectural and interior design history, design technology, construction, professional practice, research, senior thesis, and capstone experiences. She has developed approximately 100 courses, taught more than 30 different courses, and instructed hundreds of students.

Dunlap has held senior academic leadership positions, including Department Director and service as the highest-ranking academic officer at a college campus. Her leadership experience includes oversight of programs serving approximately 350 students and supervision of a multidisciplinary faculty of approximately 35–40 instructors, with responsibilities spanning academic operations, curriculum, faculty development, student success, and program quality.

At Winthrop, Dunlap teaches across the Interior Design curriculum and contributes to senior thesis research and capstone experiences. Her expertise in interior design and event planning also supports the Interior Design Senior Show, integrating spatial design, visual presentation, event execution, and the presentation of student achievement.

Beyond higher education, Dunlap's experience encompasses executive leadership, organizational learning, instructional design, curriculum strategy, and corporate training. Her professional interior design experience includes residential and commercial design, programming, space planning, specifications, construction documentation, project coordination, and client consultation.

Her work across professional practice, education, leadership, and experiential design informs a teaching philosophy centered on professional rigor, critical thinking, technical competency, and preparing students for professional practice. Her interests include design pedagogy, emerging technologies in design and learning, curriculum innovation, executive leadership, experiential and event design, and the intersection of design thinking, learning, and human performance.