Faculty Profile

Sandra Hartje headshot

Sandra C. Hartje

Co-Dean of the Division of STEM and Social Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences; Professor of Family and Consumer Sciences; Chair of Interior Design

Email: shartje@spu.edu
Phone: 206-281-2204
Office: Peterson Hall 204B


Education: BS, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 1979; MS, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 1984; PhD, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 1998. At SPU since 1989.

Dr. Sandra Hartje has overseen the Interior Design program since the early 1990s.

Her research interests include accessible and universal design in housing, environmental issues related to housing and health, affordable housing, and housing issues for women and children. Among the courses she teaches are “Introduction to Interior Design,” “Family Housing,” “Introduction to AutoCAD,” “Advanced AutoCAD for Interior Design,” “Lighting Design,” “Universal Design in Housing,” and “Foundations and Contemporary Issues in Family and Consumer Sciences.”

Her professional memberships include Housing Education and Research Association (HERA), American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS), and Northwest Universal Design Coalition. She is also a member of the Housing Task Force and Washington Low Income Housing Alliance.

Dr. Hartje has presented locally, nationally, and internationally on universal design and has published work in the American Association of Family and Consumer Science Research Journal and the Journal of Housing and Society, as well as co-authored a text chapter on universal design.


View Dr. Sandra Hartje’s CV (PDF) for more information.

Why I Teach at SPU

Sandra Hartje, Professor of Family and Consumer Sciences; Director of the Family and Consumer Sciences Department

“I am passionate about improving the quality of life for individuals, families, and communities to housing — on both the individual/ household- and community-planning levels. The multidisciplinary nature of housing — design, construction, affordability, economics, planning, public policy, social issues — fascinates me. Winston Churchill once said,  ‘We shape our dwellings; thereafter, they shape us.’”