Graff, Jane (1927 - )

Jane Graff teaching a related arts workshop, 1972

When she decided to become an extension specialist in design, Jane Graff was following in the footsteps of her parents--her mother had taught apparel and interior design at Iowa State College, and her father worked as an Extension District Supervisor with the Agricultural Extension Service in Iowa.

She received a BS in Applied Art from Iowa State College (1949) and then worked for several years in the interior design bureau of the Armstrong Cork Company. In 1956, she completed an MA in Art at the University of California, Los Angeles. Until her appointment at UW in 1959, she was instructor and extension specialist in interior design and furnishings at Michigan State University.

At UW, where she was a faculty member from 1959 until 1991, Graff's job was to identify consumers' concerns about interior design and the performance of furnishings and to develop programs to address these concerns. She provided program support for county Extension faculty, who presented many of the programs, and employed newsletters, fact sheets, radio, television, audio and video tapes and other media in efforts to reach a variety of audiences throughout the state. Graff also enjoyed making and photographing scale models to illustrate design concepts. Her extension publications include "Working with Color" and "Adapting Interiors and Furnishings for the Disabled." She also created a videotape, "Adapting Your Home: Meeting Your Needs in Later Years."