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Investing in North Minneapolis is a collaborative architecture and urban design effort organized by the School of Architecture that reimagines the Northside neighborhood. Over the fall, community youth in the Northside Safety NET program, architecture students and professionals, and Northside residents worked together to infuse the community's values and experiences into thoughtful architecture and urban design.

Graduating graphic design seniors will showcase their senior theses this December in “Graphic Content.” On display in Rapson Hall's HGA Gallery, the exhibition will run from Monday, December 5 to Wednesday, December 14 with a reception on the final date.

The University of Minnesota’s College of Design is pleased to announce that fashion designer and urban gardening advocate Ron Finley will be the featured speaker for this year’s Kusske Lecture & Dialogue on Thursday, December 1. 

It wasn’t until he became a TA during graduate school that Professor Emeritus John Koepke realized he enjoyed teaching as much as working in a design firm. After hearing about an open position at the University of Minnesota, Koepke gave “the best interview of his life” and became Department of Landscape Architecture Head. During his time, Koepke helped the department become internationally ranked and built long-term connections with communities across Minnesota. In this interview, Koepke discusses his favorite parts about teaching, the challenges he faced, and gives advice to design professionals and academics.

A desire to think critically and creatively put Professor Emerita Marilyn DeLong on the path to a career in higher education. Serving as associate dean before, during, and after the creation of the College of Design, DeLong helped shape the college’s graduate education programs. Her skill for seeing connections and her passion for helping women earn their Ph.D. degrees have made her a highly regarded and celebrated educator and mentor. In this interview, DeLong talks about her career, her future plans, and her advice for design academics and professionals.

A project years in the making, eFargo is an interactive game that teaches users about carbon emissions and helps them reduce energy use in the real world. Developed by a team of faculty and students from the College of Design and North Dakota State University (NDSU), the project was initially created and has subsequently been led by Associate Professor Malini Srivastava (Architecture). The project has won numerous awards, including the highly competitive 2022 R+D Award from Architect Magazine.

Professor Emerita Becky Yust didn’t intend to pursue a career in academia. Originally set on becoming an interior designer, the advice and support she received from professors led her to pursue a career as an educator. During her time in higher education, Yust has served as a professor, program chair, department head, and even the College of Design’s interim dean. Over the course of her career, she’s mentored countless students, faculty members, and staff, helping them to find their own paths. After almost five decades of service, Yust celebrated her last semester at the University of Minnesota (UMN) in May 2022. In this interview, she reflects on her career, the challenges she faced, and shares advice for academics and designers.

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.

From tackling the user experience design of the Metaverse to developing customized pediatric respiratory masks, our faculty are conducting research across the design fields and beyond. This spring, 12 faculty members received grants from the University’s Imagine Fund, which supports innovative research in the arts, humanities, and design fields.

Biophilic design focuses on increasing the connection between humans and the natural environment through the design of spaces. This fall, the Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR) will host an exhibition on biophilic design featuring images submitted through Instagram.

On May 5 and 6, 2022, the Department of Landscape Architecture will host capstone presentations for the Master of Landscape Architecture Class of 2022. Members of the public are invited to attend. View the presentation schedule and learn about the capstones that will be presented below.

Help celebrate our students’ hard work by joining the College of Design community for final reviews, exhibitions, and showcases featuring work from across our design disciplines.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a physical heart defect that begins in the womb, impacting around 40,000 children born in the U.S. each year. On a mission to improve education for diagnosed children and their families, Drs. Amr El-Bokl and Gurumurthy Hiremath (Department of Pediatrics, UMN Medical School), partnered with product design undergraduate student Levi Skelton and Assistant Professor Carlye Lauff to create a product for teaching children about CHD.

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 2022 presenters and their work in this year’s round-up.

The College of Design’s School of Architecture is pleased to announce its 2022 Spring Lecture Series. Featuring practitioners from across the world, this spring’s series is curated by Assistant Professor-in-Practice Gabriel Cuéllar and its theme is “Existing to Remain.”

In honor of the late Professor Emeritus Roger Martin, the landscape architecture community has created the Roger B. Martin Travel Prize through the College of Design. This annual award will allow early career professionals to pursue foreign or domestic travel as a means to further their professional development.

Keeping goods in a circle of reuse is one of the easiest ways consumers can help reduce waste and save money. But understanding product life cycles and the positive impact of reuse can be daunting for consumers who want to get started. Retail merchandising students in RM 3124: Consumers of Design teamed up with the Hennepin County Choose to Reuse team to research solutions for helping consumers prioritize reuse over purchasing new.

Over the past two years, students, faculty, and staff have risen to the ongoing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic by embracing new technology and finding innovative ways to create valuable classroom experiences remotely. Yet, virtual learning and prioritizing safety for students have limited opportunities to work in-person with traditional tools such as the letterpress.

You can’t break something that is already broken. Understanding this piece of wisdom is the first step in the process of repair and part of the foundation for a new freshman seminar in the College of Design, DES 1408: Dare to Repair.

Launched in fall 2020, the College of Design’s Design Justice Initiative was founded to create space, policies, and practices within the college that support the inclusion and retention of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and other historically underinvested communities. A year after its founding, the initiative has launched a number of events and programs to help forward its work.

Students, alumni, and retail leaders from across Minnesota and beyond gathered virtually on Tuesday, October 26 for Retail Connect 2021. The annual event brings industry and academic communities together to address the challenges and innovations shaping the retail landscape.

In 1972, Clinton Navarro Hewitt was hired at the University of Minnesota and quickly promoted to Associate VP of Planning. For the next 37 years, Hewitt would shape the U of M’s campuses across the state through dozens of landmark building projects—including Scholar’s Walk, David M. Lilly Plaza, and the Weisman Art Museum—and impact the lives of countless students and colleagues. To celebrate his career of building community and expanding the field of landscape architecture, the Department of Landscape Architecture has worked with the UMN Archives to create the Clinton N. Hewitt archive.

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.

The College of Design’s Center for Retail Design and Innovation (CRDI) has entered into the biggest partnership in its history with omnichannel retailer Kohl’s. Based outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Kohl’s financial commitment over a three-year period will support CRDI’s work to enrich the student experience in retail merchandising.

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 pleased to announce the opening of the Eicher Dress and Fashion Library, which honors Regents Professor Emerita Joanne B. Eicher.

The concept that science can and should be accessible to all is the grounding principle behind the Science Communication Lab at the University of Minnesota. Founded to provide interdisciplinary internship opportunities, the lab has consistently attracted College of Design undergraduate students interested in creating stories or media that make complex research and scientific topics accessible to the general public.