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.
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.
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.
The Goldstein Museum of Design's latest exhibitions explore the intersection of design with music and the natural world.
February is career month at the University of Minnesota! Open to current students and recent alumni the month is chock-full of job fairs, networking events, webinars, and workshops.
Sara Lopez (BS ’12, Apparel Design) wants you to stop and think about your clothing. Profiled in outlets like Vogue, Elle, and W Magazine, Lopez's work considers clothing's purpose in society and what its modern use says about our world. Her label, A--Company, deconstructs one piece of clothing at a time through the lens of critical theory and queer studies to create something entirely new. In this interview, Lopez talks about the experiences that shaped her work, her design approach, and shares advice for current design students.
The College of Design invites current students and recent graduates to attend one of our fall career events! Are you an alumnus or employer who's hiring? Register to attend one of our events as an employer to meet our future designers.
In the spring of 2018 Teaching Specialist Bill Moran (Graphic Design) asked his students to design fabric wraps for the concrete pillars lining the basement of McNeal Hall. The project was a success, and it prompted Moran to ask himself, “Why not try this in the McNeal Hall Atrium?” The idea stuck with him and finally came to fruition in June 2022 when Moran solicited help from alumni, students, staff of the Goldstein Museum of Design, and received funding from the college’s Kusske Design Initiative to make his idea a reality.
The University of Minnesota’s College of Design is pleased to announce that internationally acclaimed architect, Frank Owen Gehry, CC, FAIA, will be the inaugural speaker for the new Kusske Lecture & Dialogue Series on Tuesday, November 16.
Laura Sanden Cabo (M.Arch ‘83), AIA, creates Disney magic on the seas. As a portfolio creative executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, Cabo is entrusted with leading the teams that envision and execute the creative development of almost everything under the Disney Cruise Line umbrella. In our latest alumni interview, Cabo talks about applying her architecture skills to a non-traditional career and what designers can bring to the table at any company.
The College of Design is thrilled to have three award recipients featured in the 2021 Alumni Award Affair presented by the University and the University of Minnesota Alumni Association (UMAA). All three recipients will be recognized during the UMAA Alumni Awards Affair on Thursday, September 23.
When the COVID-19 pandemic set in and drove more social interaction online, virtual reality (VR) platforms, like VRchat or SecondLife, exploded in popularity. These virtual environments allow users to make friends, play games, and participate in a virtual economy. For Claire Lumen (BS ‘20, Apparel Design), this technology provides more than just a social outlet. As a student, VR shaped her academic focus and played a pivotal role in her journey as a trans woman. Now in her professional life, VR continues to shape how Lumen applies her apparel design skills to the virtual world.
What started as a part-time job for Juan Andrés Rujana (BS ‘20, Product Design) turned into an opportunity to grow, experiment, and make an impact supporting refugees as Epimonía’s design director. Juan Rujana talks about his work with Epimonía, a refugee-founded fashion label, and how his experiences in the Product Design program have impacted his career thus far in our latest alumni spotlight.
Searching for jobs and making early career decisions can be tough to navigate on your own. For 28 years, College of Design juniors, seniors, and graduate students have been matched with mentors in their field of study to help bridge the gap between academia and industry through the college’s award-winning mentorship program.
Breathe99 started making face masks before it was popular. Founded in 2018, the company’s original mask, the B1 Mask, was designed to protect users from air pollution. When the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread in early 2020, the team, including alumna Julia Duvall, put their experience to good use and redesigned the B1 Mask to create a higher protection face covering. With that, the B2 Mask was born and soon became one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Inventions of 2020.
A generous commitment from Manitou Fund to the University of Minnesota’s College of Design will honor the memory of distinguished alumnus Christopher Arthur Kusske (BLA ‘78).
In 2017, a U of M alumna approached the University of Minnesota Alumni Association (UMAA) with an interesting idea: Create a fun, unique shirt only for members to kick off the school year and raise money to ignite student success.
The University of Minnesota’s Alumni Association Awards are presented each fall to recognize outstanding alumni and alumni networks across the University of Minnesota.
Sarah Klecker (BS ’17, Apparel Design) is putting her design degree to work creating functional apparel for athletes of all kinds.
In her senior year of college, Anna Peshock (B.S. ’15, Apparel Design) took an internship at a small start-up called Shinesty.
To become more sustainable, Winsome Goods founder Kathryn Sieve (B.S. ’11, Apparel Design) knew she had to find a way to incorporate the leftover fabric scraps from her products into usable items. After discussing the problem with instructor Lindsey Strange (Apparel Design) it became clear that it was the perfect research project for students to tackle in the Apparel Studio I.
When designing for today’s workplace, interior designers are increasingly called upon to think beyond the traditional cubicle and create a more contemporary space. Interior design students in Abimbola Asojo and Justine Pliska’s IDES 2604 experienced this first-hand when they were asked to design a “third place work cafe” as part of a competition from Haworth.
Early interaction with nature has been proven to increase children's capacity for creativity, critical concentration skills, and relationship building.
Today the College of Design announced that Jennifer Yoos, FAIA, will be named the next head of its School of Architecture, effective June 8, 2020, and pending approval by the Board of Regents.
As a professional career coach for over 20 years, I know first-hand how stressful it is to search for a job or internship. Now, with dramatic changes and uncertainty, it can feel overwhelming.