All News

A collaboration between student-group AIAS Freedom by Design and the non-profit Settled has led to a brand new storage shed for the future Settled community at Mosaic Christian Community Church.

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.

Innovation starts with new challenges and fresh perspectives, a concept well known to both the Product Design program and Andersen Corporation. This notion formed the basis of their spring 2021 collaboration when graduating product design seniors worked directly with Andersen Windows and Doors products and professionals to develop solutions for “bringing the outdoors in” as part of their capstone projects.

As the summer winds down so does the typical growing season for Minnesotan gardeners and growers. But not for the five Deep Winter Greenhouses designed by Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR) Research Fellow Daniel Handeen.

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.

Professor Tasoulla Hadjiyanni (Interior Design) has been selected as the Imagine Fund 2021–2023 Arts, Design, and Humanities (ADH) Chair.

Every year faculty, instructors, researchers, and students within the College of Design present their work during the annual Research and Creative Scholarship Showcase. While the 2021 showcase happened virtually, the research was as impressive as ever!

Join College of Design students, faculty, and staff for virtual presentations and reviews showcasing final design projects and research from our various disciplines.

On Wednesday, May 5 from 3:30 to 6:30 PM the 2021 Heritage Students and Public History class will virtually present their capstone projects. These presentations are open to the public and can be viewed by accessing this Zoom link on May 5. See the presentation schedule and learn more about the capstones below.

On May 6 and 7, 2021, the Department of Landscape Architecture will host capstone presentations for the Master of Landscape Architecture Class of 2021. Members of the public are invited to watch the presentations. View the presentation schedule and learn about the capstones that will be presented below.

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.

Making Space for Emotion: Gardens of Pain and Joy is not your average landscape architecture design studio. Taught by Professor Rebecca Krinke, this innovative course teaches students how to intentionally design spaces that acknowledge feelings and share them.

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).

Meet people from different backgrounds and use conversation to co-imagine our post-pandemic future in the spring 2021 Design in a Post-Pandemic World Discussion Series.

Two of the core tenants of the Center for Retail Design and Innovation’s (CRDI) mission are to connect retail merchandising students with retail professionals and to give students the opportunity to work on real-world projects. This fall, students in RM 3124: Consumers of Design tackled a research project given to them by Décor Senior Vice President of Brand Management and alumna of the College of Design, Jaime Curtis.

The following is a guest post written by Professor Stephanie Zollinger (Interior Design), creator of the Jack Lenor Larsen Oral History Project.

Assistant Professors Terresa Moses (University of Minnesota) and Lisa Mercer (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) first met at the University of North Texas as graduate students. Three years later, the two reunited to create the Racism Untaught toolkit—a resource to help design educators bring social impact projects and discussions of race, culture, and identity to their classrooms.

On December 21, 2020, the winter solstice, renowned landscape architect and Professor Emeritus Roger Bond Martin, FASLA, FAAR, passed away at age 84.

The retail merchandising program is proud to share that, as part of its 2020 Retail Connect event, it was able to provide individual scholarships to six current retail students: Courtney Clark, Caroline Geiger, Pei Jet Teh, Olivia Rein, Annie Skogen, and Kersten Wetterstrom.

When Simon Ozbek (MS '20, Human Factors & Ergonomics) started his academic career he never could have imagined that it would take him all the way to NASA. Determined to unite his passions for psychology and creativity, he discovered the College of Design’s Human Factors & Ergonomics graduate program. Now a human factors engineer at NASA, Ozbek describes his journey into the field in the following interview.

The following is a guest post from Minnesota Design Center Director Tom Fisher.

At the onset of planning for Retail Connect 2020, event organizers thought their largest obstacle would be overhauling the event’s brand—then the pandemic hit followed swiftly by the killing of George Floyd.

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.

On June 8, 2020, the College of Design named Jennifer Yoos, FAIA, as the new head of the School of Architecture. Her career in architecture is driven by a lifelong love for art, buildings, and design in general as well as childhood summers spent with her artist aunt in Chicago. In our interview, Yoos shares her visions for the school, the new semester, and the future of the profession.

The University of Minnesota’s Alumni Association Awards are presented each fall to recognize outstanding alumni and alumni networks across the University of Minnesota.

The College of Design is excited to welcome a number of new, full-time faculty and staff to the college this fall. In addition, a number of our current staff and faculty have moved into different positions within the college.