Cornell University's interior design undergraduate and graduate programs were both ranked third in the nation recently in an annual survey of design professionals conducted by DesignIntelligence magazine.

The only schools to beat out Cornell were the University of Cincinnati and Pratt Institute in the undergraduate category, and the Rhode Island School of Design and Pratt Institute in the graduate school category.

The survey also ranked Cornell as the No. 3 school with Pratt for "sustainable design, concepts and practice," and the No. 2 school with Kansas State University in "understanding professional practice." Cornell's architecture program ranked as the third most innovative in the nation.

The interior design programs at Cornell are in the College of Human Ecology's Department of Design and Environmental Analysis.

DesignIntelligence is a design industry publication of the Design Futures Council. Its December issue annually examines the quality of U.S. design education. In the latest survey of firms in the fields of architecture, interior design, engineering and industrial design, the magazine asked how well prepared newly hired graduates were for real-world practice. The survey targets professionals who have direct experience in hiring and evaluating the performance of graduates.