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Each year, the College of Design proudly honors exceptional students, faculty, and staff whose remarkable contributions have enriched our academic community. Award recipients are nominated across multiple categories by their peers, including faculty, students, and staff.

A designer, entrepreneur, and changemaker, Larissa Loden embodies the spirit of creativity, resilience, and purpose-driven design.

Assistant Professor of Architecture Dingliang Yang has been named a recipient of the 2025-2027 McKnight Land-Grant Professorship, marking the first time a U of M architecture faculty member has received this prestigious award since its establishment in 1987.

Richard Graves, Associate Professor of Architecture and Research Director of the Center for Sustainable Building Research has been working in collaboration with Pelican Rapids residents to develop a new teen center that fits the unique needs of the community. 

The College of Design is proud to announce Minnesota’s first Bachelor of Science Degree in User Experience (UX) Design. 

College of Design students teamed up with the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence (MCAE) to create a refreshed design for the group's signature graduation stoles.

Pig’s Eye Lake at the Mississippi River in St. Paul, a site of historical pollution with significant Indigenous heritage and ecological importance, will serve as a catalyst project of the “Soft-Urban Riverfront: A New Paradigm for Headwater Metropolises” studio. 

This prestigious award goes to one architectural educator, nationally, each year. The last University of Minnesota educator to win it was Ralph Rapson in 1987.

The Bring Back 6th Mobile Museum exhibition kicked off on May 15, 2022, during an outdoor street fest organized by Our Streets Minneapolis (OSM). Crafted by six Heritage Studies and Public History students, Jessie Merriam, Ayaan Natala, Jade Ryerson, Hibaa Roba, Angel Swann, and Carrisa Thomas, the exhibition shed light on the once-vibrant Black and Jewish neighborhood along 6th Avenue North that was bulldozed between the 1930s and 1950s to make way for the city’s first highway. 

In a fusion of culture, design, and gastronomy, 21 University of Minnesota students embarked on a transformative learning abroad program to Singapore in January 2024 with Product Design Professors Carlye Lauff and Barry Kudrowitz. With a focus on the intersection of food and design, their trip proved to be a rich exploration of Singapore's vibrant culinary scene and innovative design landscape.

As a playful opportunity to boost creative collaboration among design students, the Kusske Design Initiative (KDI) Cohort developed “Through-Line,” an interactive string installation that surveyed the design processes and learning styles of students at Ralph Rapson Hall and McNeal Hall.

A collaboration with Caribou Coffee challenged design students to expand their skills and apply them to a real-world project. Over the fall 2023 semester, graphic design students in Professor Sauman Chu’s GDES 3352 Identity and Symbols class created a video to promote Caribou Coffee to potential franchisees at conferences and tradeshows. 

Adrienne Bockheim (MLA ‘10) discovered her passion for landscape architecture after the realization that it encompassed everything that fascinated her. Her work, first as a graduate student and then as a project coordinator, with the College of Design’s Minnesota Design Center laid the foundation for a career uniting landscape architecture and urban planning. As a principal city planner for the City of Minneapolis, Bockheim plays a pivotal role in transformative projects like the New Nicollet Redevelopment. In this interview, she shares insights into her career trajectory, offers advice to students, and reflects on how her time at the college shaped her successful career path.

Appointed the state director of USDA Rural Development South Dakota by President Joe Biden, Alumna Nikki Gronli’s (BS ‘96, Design Communications) diverse career journey has included working in design and advertising for music labels, pizza brands, and tech companies, before taking a pivotal shift toward public service. As state director, Gronli has over 70 programs under her purview and orchestrates a team of 31 specialists dedicated to fostering rural prosperity. In this interview, Gronli talks about her career path, her commitment to lifelong learning, and shares advice for students.

In the fight against cancer, little things can make a huge difference. Cancer Care Foundation MN teamed up with Professor Lucy Dunne’s design class to redesign onesies for infants receiving cancer treatment at Children’s Minnesota. The result? A onesie with pockets for easy access to treatment ports, a small change that has made a big difference in care.

Located in the heart of Minneapolis’ Whittier neighborhood, the Alfred F. Pillsbury House, or “Pillsbury Castle”, is a testament to architectural history. It’s also the first house in seven years to be named an American Society for Interior Designers (ASID) MN Design House. As part of the process, ASID invited interior design students from the College of Design to partner with professional designers in preserving and transforming the house. 

A recipient of the 2023 U40 Alumni Leader Award, Patrick Puckett has been a longstanding advocate for the University of Minnesota, the College of Design, and the important connections design students make that lead to future career success. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, Puckett carved out a path in user experience (UX) design. In this interview, Puckett talks about his current work as an experience designer, the skills it takes to be successful in the field, and shares advice for current design students.

Exciting transformations have taken place at the College of Design, as several spaces have been renovated to enhance the student experience. The college recently completed renovations in Rapson Hall Rooms 1 and 253; McNeal Hall Suite 32, 12, and 18; and 1425 University Ave. Rooms 75 and 175. All of the renovations have resulted in refreshed and reimagined areas that cater to the needs of students from across design programs.

The University of Minnesota’s College of Design is pleased to announce that biologist, innovation consultant, and author Janine Benyus will be the featured speaker for this year’s Kusske Lecture & Dialogue on Wednesday, November 1. 

The College of Design is pleased to announce that 12 of its individuals and teams received funding from the University’s 2023 Imagine Fund. These grants support innovative research in the arts, humanities, and design fields. Design faculty and researchers will use the funds for historical investigation and analysis, community-based design, and experimental technology applications.

The University of Minnesota’s College of Design was pleased to present fashion designer and urban gardening advocate Ron Finley as the featured speaker for the 2022 Kusske Lecture & Dialogue.

University of Minnesota students are hungry for interdisciplinary learning experiences that reflect contemporary design practice and tackle the complexity of design in the era of climate change. This was reflected in the unprecedented outpouring of interest in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2023 Solar Decathlon Design Challenge. Hosted at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), the decathlon invites college students from around the world to design high-performance net-zero energy buildings that simultaneously promote environmental sustainability and social equity.

Max Dickson (he/him) earned a Master of Landscape Architecture and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Minnesota in 2019. After graduation, Dickson moved to Philadelphia to work with OLIN, an internationally awarded landscape architecture and urban design firm. At OLIN, Dickson’s work has focused on district-scale urban spaces, and leading the emergent research initiative through OLIN Labs called PrideScapes, an exploration of LGBTQ+ landscapes and people within the field of landscape architecture.

Every year faculty, instructors, researchers, and students from across the College of Design present their research during the annual Research and Creative Scholarship Showcase. You can learn more about the 2023 presenters and their work in this year’s round-up.

On Thursday, June 1, Executive Vice President and Provost Rachel T.A. Croson announced the appointment of Dr. Prasad Boradkar as the next Dean of the College of Design, effective September 5, 2023.

Students in the Product Innovation Lab course partnered with Minnesota-based company Rockler Woodworking and Hardware to design tools and products that make crafting easier for makers and woodworkers with limited space.

Now in its tenth year, the Steelcase Next Design Competition is a national contest for undergraduate students hosted by Steelcase, Inc. This year’s competition was fierce, with more than 1,200 entrants and 77 design programs represented from across the U.S. and Canada. Despite the number of entries, the College of Design had two interior design students named semi-finalists: Addison Cameron and Sarah Olney!