2016 Parsons School of Design Graduate Viewbook

N HISTORY AND THEORY GY CONSTRUCTED ENVIR EGIES FASHION ARCHITE OGIES DATA VIs IES Interior DESIGN FA y FINE ARTS STRATEGIC SIGN AND TECHNOLOGY D CURATORIAL STUDIES GN TRANSDISCIPLINARY ES OF URBAN PRACTICE C IGN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN NOLOGY PHOTOGRAPHY DESIGN STRATEGIES FAS n DATA VISUALIZATION D S LIGHTING DESIGN ART Y communication des GN AND MANAGEMENT TICE FASHION STUDIES

parsons school of design Graduate Programs

Discover a university that has been progressive since its inception.

Parsons School of Design has offered students innovative approaches to education since its founding in 1896. The school was established by a group of forward-thinking artists who seceded from the Art Students League of New York in search of new forms of creative expression. Today Parsons is top ranked globally and the only American art and design school within a comprehensive university— The New School—which also houses a rigorous liberal arts college, a progressive performing arts school, a legendary graduate school, and other programs. Here you can master established art and design fields or advance emerging ones and study across all university disciplines.

Guided by Parsons faculty, graduate students draw on the university’s extensive resources to challenge convention and innovate, improving people’s lives directly and preparing for an evolving world as a collective force of new creative thought and action.

Contents 4

The new school parsons

OVERVIEW

16

M.ARCH Architecture

18

Mps COMMUNICATION DESIGN

20

MS Data visualization

22

MFA DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

24

MS DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES

26

MA DESIGN STUDIES

28

MFA FASHION DESIGN AND SOCIETY

30

MA FASHION STUDIES

32

MFA FINE ARTS

34

MA HISTORY OF DESIGN AND CURATORIAL STUDIES

36

MFA INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

38

MFA INTERIOR DESIGN

40

MFA LIGHTING DESIGN

42

MFA PHOTOGRAPHY

44

MS STRATEGIC DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT

46

MA THEORIES OF URBAN PRACTICE

48

MFA TRANSDISCIPLINARY DESIGN

50

Student services

52

Tuition, Scholarships, and Financial Aid

54

Admission

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Table of contents

ABOUT PARSONS

P

arsons gives students the tools needed to achieve professional success and prepares them to think beyond current paradigms. They arrive here with diverse interests, perspectives, and backgrounds; they graduate prepared to creatively and critically address the complexities of life in the 21st century.

A Legacy of groundbreaking Innovation Parsons has pioneered art and design education since its beginnings, championing new movements and teaching methods that have shaped generations of artists, designers, scholars, entrepreneurs, and community leaders. Programs at Parsons are grouped into the following five schools: • School of Art and Design History and Theory (ADHT) • School of Art, Media, and Technology (AMT) • School of Constructed Environments (SCE) • School of Design Strategies (SDS) • School of Fashion (SOF) This organizational structure supports Parsons’ educational mission, and its interdisciplinary approach builds community among students and faculty in related disciplines.

A Distinguished Faculty, a Collaborative Approach Parsons’ faculty of leading design practitioners, artists, critics, historians, writers, and scholars reflects the spectrum of art and design disciplines. Instructors collaborate with students to develop technologies and refine research methodologies, creating work that is relevant to contemporary social, cultural, and economic systems. By combining art and design studio curricula with instruction in liberal arts and business, Parsons faculty members prepare students to lead in a range of fields and to excel in their creative practice.

To learn more about the faculty, visit newschool.edu/parsons-faculty.

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ABOUT PARSONS

Second-year students in the MFA Fashion Design and Society program present their work publicly each year, attracting industry and press attention.

ABOUT PARSONS

A community for learning Parsons, like The New School as a whole, is a community made up of people representing a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and academic and professional practices. Parsons students come from all 50 states and more than 100 countries, making the university one of the most geographically diverse in the country. At Parsons, collaboration with individuals of varied perspectives and backgrounds enriches the overall educational experience and prepares students to communicate and build relationships within an increasingly global workplace.

An urban focus Cities are models of sustainable living because of the efficient resource use and forms of community life that are possible in densely populated areas. New York City is an ideal setting in which to study the ecologies of urban environments. The city also offers opportunities to explore emerging design fields, such as the design of services. Parsons instructors are part of the city, too; most are working professionals who practice the disciplines they teach.

DIVERSITY AND PARSONS Parsons is committed to achieving greater diversity, with a community that reflects a broad range of experiences, identities, cultures, and beliefs.

Cultivating a learning environment in which all can thrive requires respect and an understanding of academia’s vast spectrum of social, political, and economic contexts. Diversity enables tomorrow’s designers to devise innovative, thoughtful solutions to social inequities and injustices. This effort emphasizes contributions from historically underrepresented people within higher education.

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The University at a Glance (Fall 2015)

13,127 Total enrollment at The New School

3,405 Total graduate enrollment at

11

The New School

927 Total graduate enrollment at Parsons

5,854 Total enrollment at Parsons

55 Percentage of international graduate students at Parsons

Average class size

10:1 Student-to-faculty ratio at Parsons

ABOUT PARSONS

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ACADEMICS

W

ith a renowned comprehensive curriculum, Parsons offers students many opportunities to collaborate across academic disciplines within a diverse intellectual community. The university’s extensive libraries, archives, studio spaces, and other resources enrich research and projects, while public symposia and events connect the university to real-world practices.

Faculty and students form a diverse body of scholars critically addressing contemporary issues in their fields, moving beyond current frameworks using advanced practical and theoretical knowledge.

Because Parsons is part of a large research university, students have access to courses in a range of subjects. Visit the university course catalog to see the variety of topics available to you as part of your curriculum: courses.newschool.edu.

degrees of difference In addition to its graduate degree offerings, Parsons offers a variety of associate’s degrees (AAS) intended for mature students hoping to make a career change or add career-enhancing skills to their résumés. If you have a bachelor’s degree in an unrelated field and lack the formal training or professional experience needed to be competitive for entry into a graduate degree program at Parsons, explore our AAS offerings in Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Interior Design, and Fashion Marketing.

Continuing studies Parsons also offers open enrollment courses in which nondegree students of all ages can build portfolios or take art and design courses for credit or on a noncredit basis. Intensive courses for undergraduate and graduate credit are offered each summer on the New York campus and in Parsons programs abroad. Some courses are offered online. newschool.edu/parsons-continuing-studies newschool.edu/parsons-summer

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academics

Students in Parsons’ graduate urban programs recently collaborated with peers at KU Leuven, a Belgian partner university, to devise design-led responses to global urbanization, migration, and climate change as part of an internationally funded research project, which they presented publicly.

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Study Options at Parsons Paris The New School’s Parsons Paris campus offers courses, programs, and study abroad opportunities, enabling students to benefit from our pioneering approach to learning in an intimate setting in a European capital. Our exclusive partnerships with the city’s premier art and design organizations, such as Musée des Arts Décoratifs, ENSAD (École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs), and ENSCI–Les Ateliers (École nationale

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supérieure de création industrielle), give students unique learning experiences.

Parsons Paris offers the following graduate programs: • Design and Technology (MFA) • Fashion Studies (MA) • History of Design and Curatorial Studies (MA) To explore the graduate degree programs currently offered at Parsons Paris, visit newschool.edu/parsons-paris.

academics

ACADEMICS

Facilities Access to state-of-the-art and traditional tools at the Making Center facilitates students’ creative growth. Available are 3D printers; laser cutters; CNC routers; high-speed plotters; printmaking equipment; woodworking, metalworking, and sewing tools; and digital imaging, audio, and production gear.

Art and photo studios, fabrication shops, a lighting simulation lab, a video “green room,” computer stations, and our new Innovation Lab offer additional resources. The University Center provides ample space for collaboration; meeting rooms, quiet-study areas, and practice rooms throughout campus offer work space as well.

University libraries and resources available through the online Research Library Consortium of South Manhattan support student research. Students can also draw on the Kellen Design Archives, which conserves Parsons-related primary-source materials.

The University Center, our sustainably built campus anchor, encourages interdisciplinary work through its open design and ample co-working areas.

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academics

Courses and campus facilities help you stay current with the tools of your chosen practice—such as 3D printers like the one shown here.

GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES

P

arsons graduate students come from around the world.

Over the past few years, we have received applications from every state in the United States and more than 100 countries. Once here, students participate in projects with a global focus, show work abroad, and take courses overseas, developing their critical and creative abilities and gaining valuable experience.

Learn more: newschool.edu/parsons/global-learning

TOP: Lucia Cuba, MFA Fashion Design and

Society ’12, drew on her experience in design and activism for her thesis project.

She designed Artículo 6, a line of garments and “actions”—installations, performances, objects, photos, and videos—intended to raise awareness of the involuntary sterilizations of Peruvian women that took place in the 1990s and their present-day legal battle.

BOTTOM: Designer and alumna Donna Karan partnered with faculty and students on an initiative in Haiti, working with local designer Paula Coles on the DOT (Design, Organization and Training) Center, a new vocational education hub for Haitian artisans. Students helped design the space, explore products to develop, research local practices, and lead making workshops.

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TOP: Designers at Parsons’ PETLab

gaming incubator and residents of St. Louis, Senegal, created a game to develop climate-related disaster-preparedness systems for the Red Cross/Red Crescent.

Versions of the game have been tested in Namibia, Kenya, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and the project was presented at the UN Climate Change Conference.

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MIDDLE: Parsons and Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts students explored the relationship between the arts and urbanism in Phnom Penh and New York at the Season of Cambodia Festival. Students curated a related multimedia exhibition documenting the role of arts in civic life.

GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES

BOTTOM: Students from Parsons’ School of Constructed Environments and graduate students in the university’s International Affairs program traveled to Jinga, Uganda, to collaborate with Slum Women’s Initiative for Development (SWID) on a project to develop housing.

ARCHITECTURE (M.ARCH) School of Constructed environments

T

he Master of Architecture (MArch) program is a three-year NAAB-accredited professional degree for students holding a pre-professional undergraduate degree in architecture or a fouryear non-architecture degree. New York City provides students with a comprehensive context in which to develop design-build experience and explore architecture’s formal and sociopolitical dimensions. Students work with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, the NYC Housing Authority, and studios addressing environmental challenges presented by sea level rise and storm surge.

The studio course sequence

The MArch curriculum focuses

challenges students to address

on contemporary issues directly

demands imposed by use, site,

affecting the field, ranging from new

context, structure, and construction.

representational techniques to

Interdisciplinary electives in history,

sustainable built and natural

theory, and technology highlight

systems. It prepares students to

architecture’s pivotal role in shap-

enter the professional architecture

ing culture. Students can choose

community and shape the built

electives offered in other programs

environment and the field.The MArch

throughout The New School.

is a program within

Courses draw on Parsons’ network of municipal and institutional partners, local practitioners, and commercial clients, providing students with internship, design competition, and research funding opportunities.

Students in the Design Workshop design and construct— from schematics to punch list—a project for a nonprofit client.

Established in 1996, the workshop embodies the progressive values of Parsons and The New School.

It unites theoretical and hands-on learning and trains students to develop practices to improve the social and physical environment.

Past projects include a sustainable laundromat and information center for Hurricane Katrina survivors, a rooftop garden with educational and recreational facilities for Bronx youth, and a pool pavilion for an NYC community.

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Parsons’ School of Constructed Environments (SCE), alongside related degrees in interior, lighting, and product/industrial design. In the SCE studio, members of the diverse student body collaborate on complex design problems, from interiors to comprehensive architectural volumes, public spaces, and urban design.

Graduates have gone on to open their own practices and work in promi nent firms, including Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Rogers Bernheimer Architecture, Gensler,

Those who wish to pursue studies in apply to the dual-degree program, a four-year, 120-credit-hour curriculum that combines the NAAB-accredited Master of Architecture and the MFA in Lighting Design. Interested students should apply directly to the dual-degree program; they will automatically be considered for admission to the individual Master of Architecture and MFA Lighting Design programs as well.

Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis, Matter Architecture Practice, Smith-Miller Hawkinson, and Young Projects.

Career paths include—Architecture; Engineering; Urban Planning; Landscape Design; Interior Design For more about faculty, courses, and requirements, visit newschool.edu/parsons-march.

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lighting design and architecture can

TOP: Students in the Design

Workshop created new lockers and changing room pavilions for the Sunset Park Recreation Center and Pool in Brooklyn.

BOTTOM: Jordana Maisie Goot

and Mochi Liu. Project for spring 2013 Housing Studio.

Architecture (M.ARCH)

Marvel Architects, LevenBetts,

MFA Lighting Design/ M.Arch Dual Degree

COMMUNICATION DESIGN (MPS) School of art, media, and technology

I

n an increasingly digital world, designers are often challenged to create technology-driven products and services for a variety of platforms and human needs. Launching in fall 2017, Parsons’ Master of Professional Studies in Communication Design* (MPS CD), with a focus on digital product design, offers you the cutting-edge conceptual design methods and technical skills you need to meet this growing marketplace demand.

This program is tailored to practicing designers seeking to enhance their digital skills and leadership potential as well as professionals with relevant design experience who want to enter the field. It encompasses the full product development cycle in communication design—from idea conception to prototyping to feedback-based refinements—and familiarizes you with business strategy.

In this one-year, 30-credit program,

advantage of the city’s diverse

you develop creative problem-solving

technology and design resources

strategies to relay and translate

while learning alongside like-

messages, information, and ideas.

minded designers in the Parsons

Your full-time course of study is

community.

built on four components: instruction

You graduate from the program

in advanced core design compe-

with your own unique, forward-looking

tencies, practices and methods

aesthetic anchored in professional

courses, external partnerships, and

skills acquired throughout the program,

the core studio sequence. Parsons

which include entrepreneurship,

faculty—skilled at bringing together

strategic working methodologies, and

design thinking, aesthetics, and

contemporary prototyping. You are

technology—guide you in explor-

prepared for digital design work

ing innovative composition and

settings, with competence in various

visualization methods, interaction

industry-standard technologies,

design, typography, and industry

including contemporary front-end

best practices.

development skills (HTML, CSS,

The specialized course of

and JavaScript), and experience

study provides coding experience

navigating professional partnerships

and engages the iterative process

with teams and clients.

and a range of collaboration and

The MPS CD program is housed

teamwork strategies. You work

within Parsons’ School of Art,

from design conception and pitch-

Media, and Technology, along with

ing through post-launch critical

programs in fine arts, design and

analyses of user experience (UX)

technology, photography, and data

and interaction (UI). The New York

visualization. You can supplement

City location enables you to take

core courses with

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related university-sponsored public programs and an elective offered at Parsons or another school or college of The New School, such as a class in psychology, marketing, data

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science, or another field.

Career paths include—Interaction Design; User Experience (UX) Design; Digital Product Design; Product Management.

and requirements, visit newschool.edu/parsons-mpscd. *Pending NASAD approval

TOP: Jenn Martins, Wespy.

Wespy is a mobile app that employs social media data provided by users’ friends to find places to socialize in Manhattan.

BOTTOM: Alex Lardaro, Well

Spent. This online tool promotes personal reflection on the value of time—and resulting behavior change— through sharing of user responses to time-related questions.

Communication Design (MPS)

For more about faculty, courses,

DATA VISUALIZATION (MS) School of art, media, and technology

P

arsons’ Master of Science in Data Visualization is a multidisciplinary program in which students develop skills bringing together visual design, computer science, and statistical analysis.

Today, the presentation of data is

guest lecturers and critics to share

integral in the shaping of opinion,

their insights and expose students

policy, and decision making in an

to new possibilities in data visuali-

increasingly global society. Giving

zation and related career paths.

students a competitive edge as they enter the field, the MS program

Career paths include—Data

responds to the increased demand

Analysis; Digital Design; Advertising

for experts to turn data into insight.

And Branding; Journalism; Business

Housed within Parsons’ School

Consulting And Analytics Strategy;

of Art, Media, and Technology,

Management; Strategic Planning;

MS Data Visualization’s 30-credit

Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise;

curriculum can be completed

Public Policy; Trend Forecasting;

in one or two years. The program

Business Intelligence.

integrates theory and studio practice, so students acquire

For more about faculty, courses,

the creative, quantitative,

and requirements, visit

and coding tools needed to

newschool.edu/parsons-msdv.

analyze and depict data, gaining a holistic understanding of context, audience, and objectives.

With the MS in Data Visualization, students obtain the diverse skill set needed to succeed in a range of data interpretation– related careers. Students graduate with portfolios demonstrating their ability to create databases and Web-based software tools that reflect an understanding of data analysis and information visualization for varied applications.

The program’s setting in New York City, a technological hub and pioneer of open-source culture, offers invaluable industry access.

Students intern with industry leaders and external partners from the government, nonprofit, and commercial sectors. Faculty invite The new school parsons

ABOVE: Jacob Romer. Romer’s

interactive digital tool enables users to see gender-related statistics for various nations.

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TOP: Daniel Sauter, interactive

BOTTOM: A student presents her digital tool, created in a class partnership with the United Nations.

data visualization (ms)

program developed for the Burnham Centennial Pavilion, designed by UNStudio. Sauter, a professor in MS Data Visualization, created a program that dynamically translates visitor traffic data into changing light patterns in the pavilion.

DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY (MFA) School of Art, Media, and technology

D

esigners today face two fundamental challenges: the expanding influence of design within society and the increasing role of technology within design. The Master of Fine Arts in Design and Technology program provides a lively environment in which to address these challenges.

The full-residency, two-year,

Samsung, and the Whitney Museum

60-credit MFA in Design and

of American Art. Students collabo-

Technology (MFA DT) curriculum is

rate with peers from other schools

studio based, but critical thinking

and colleges of The New School, a

and study of the design process are

progressive urban university empha-

central to the program. Areas of

sizing civic engagement.

practice include interaction design,

MFA DT resides in the School

physical computing, game design,

of Art, Media, and Technology at

new media art, digital fabrication,

Parsons, alongside programs in

data visualization, and critical

communication design, fine arts, photography, and illustration.

Students supplement core courses with electives offered throughout Parsons and other schools and colleges of The New School.

Career paths include—Mobile and Application Design; Web, UI, and UX Design; New Media Art; Game Design; Motion Graphics; 2D and 3D Animation; Digital Filmmaking For more about faculty, courses, and requirements, visit newschool.edu/parsons-mfadt.

design. Candidates build ideas through prototyping, synthesizing research and practice.

Graduates embark on careers in creative, academic, commercial, and educational fields that engage with the growing influence of technology. In Collaboration Studio courses, students work with industry firms and nonprofits on real-world projects. Past partners include Apple, Eyebeam, gameLab, Human Rights Watch, Mozilla, NASA, the Red Cross, The new school parsons

program alumni: Recent graduates include Open Standards Developer R/GA Founder Fridge network, Google+ Design Analyst Frog Design Inc. Creative Technologist Google Creative Lab Interaction Designer IBM Design Creative Technologist New York Times R&D Lab

TOP: Data Cafe, a multidisciplinary project installed at

a recent Parsons Festival, invited visitors to consider alternatives to the present–day data-driven economy.

OPPOSITE LEFT: Manuel Rueda Iragorri, SCALE System.

SCALE (Self Constructing Auxiliary Living Environment), an automated disaster response system, consists of flat-pack housing modules and a robot to assemble them.

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OPPOSITE BOTTOM: Ramsey Nasser, Zajal. Zajal is a

programming language for artists and hackers.

BELOW: Dong Yoon Park, Typography Insight. This app brings traditional typography teaching methods to tablets.

Senior UX Design Lead Microsoft Bing

Mobile Interaction Designer Nokia Research Center Beijing Creative Manager Interbrand Interaction Designer HUGE Game Designer Institute of Play Founder and Game Designer Large Animal Games Installation Category Finalist Adobe Design Achievement Awards

design & technology (mfa)

Interaction Designer Disney Interactive

DESIGN & URBAN ECOLOGIES (MS) School of design strategies

T

he Master of Science in Design and Urban Ecologies program at Parsons radically reframes the study of and design approaches to cities. Through activism, research, and fieldwork, students gain a broad understanding of the complex forces that influence urban growth and development. Using world cities like New York as a laboratory and working in transdisciplinary teams, they design processes for urban transformation.

The first graduate program of its

School of International Affairs,

kind in the United States, the two-

Management, and Urban Policy;

year, 60-credit Master of Science

and in other schools and colleges of

in Design and Urban Ecologies

The New School.

explores the urban complex and its interconnections with political,

Career paths include—Urban

social, economic, and environmental

Design; Urban and Regional

systems. Bringing together the

Planning; Public and Urban Policy;

academic strengths of Parsons and

Leadership of Nonprofit and Civic

other schools and colleges of The

Organizations; Community

New School, this studio-based

Planning and Organizing;

program trains graduates to become

Government Administration;

agents of change, working with the

Municipal/Regional Development;

communities and institutions that

Social, Civic, and Environmental

shape urban ecosystems.

Enterprises; Urban Research and

Guided by internationally

Consulting; Urban Curatorship;

recognized urbanists, designers, and

Academia; Doctoral Studies in

activists, students confront urgent

Urbanism and related fields.

problems facing cities and develop new research methodologies, design

For more about faculty, courses,

frameworks, and critical practices.

and requirements, visit

The program is aimed at urban planners, design professionals, social scientists, community leaders, and managers of nonprofit and government organizations motivated to critically address issues of contemporary urbanization.

Students collaborate with colleagues in the research-based MA in Theories of Urban Practice program; in Parsons’ School of Constructed Environments and School of Art, Media, and Technology; in The New School for Social Research; in the Milano The new school parsons

newschool.edu/parsons-msdue.

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MIDDLE: Studio design skills offer new

tools with which to guide sustainable and collaborative urban development.

BOTTOM: Anne Duquennois and Ron Morrison, Connecting Corners: Towards a Collaborative Food Ecology. The Connecting Corners website was created to maximize existing food and organizational resources and foster community integration in a NYC neighborhood.

DESIGN & URBAN Ecologies (MS)

TOP: Sabrina Dorsainvil and Luisa Munera, Urban Atlas Project. Munera’s project employs various documentary, storytelling, and performative methods to record Harlem residents’ ideas about community development, connect citizens with shared goals, and facilitate direct action aimed at social change.

DESIGN STUDIES (MA) School of Art and design history and theory

T

he MA in Design Studies program draws on the unique range of graduate disciplines available throughout Parsons and the rest of The New School, creating an academic laboratory offering an innovative approach to scholarship and practice. In the program, students examine design’s complex interactions with society, technology, and contemporary culture, exploring its capacity to transform sociopolitical relations and investigating how design processes can effect social change.

The 42-credit research-driven

• Design as a phenomenon whose

program critically addresses

analysis, insights, and his-

historical, philosophical, theoretical,

tory offer guidance for dealing

and social issues—politics, gender,

humanely with one another and

power relations—related to design practices and products.

Students work with pioneering design thinkers, emerging with the concepts and skills they need to become informed activists, writers,

the world we have made • Design enabling practitioners to project and critically assess scenarios of the future • Design writing and criticism for academic and general audiences

researchers, scholars, and consultants.

MA Design Studies investi-

Career paths—Graduates can

gates how design affects human

work in design-led entrepreneurial

experience and considers design as

creative industries, applying their

a fundamentally cross-disciplinary

knowledge of design and social

endeavor. Students are encouraged

innovation to assist in research to

to take courses in the full range

support new product development,

of graduate programs at Parsons

lead new approaches to curating

(including design history, curato-

and criticism, and help guide the

rial studies, fashion studies, urban

work of media and consulting firms,

studies, and media studies), and at

think tanks, technology start-ups,

The New School for Social Research

and nonprofits such

(including anthropology, history,

as NGOs and foundations.

economics, philosophy, politics,

The program also provides a

psychology, and sociology).

foundation for those who want

Aimed at both designers and non-designers, MA Design Studies

to pursue doctoral studies in related disciplines.

(which can be completed full-time or part-time) offers four overlap-

For more about faculty, courses,

ping, flexible project-based research

and requirements, visit

pathways:

newschool.edu/parsons-mads.

• Design through the integration of ecological, economic, technological, and social systems The new school parsons

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TOP: Students publicly share their perspectives and research on design’s multifaceted role in contemporary society, preparing for careers in fields ranging from academia to media to social innovation entrepreneurship.

design studies (MA)

BOTTOM: Plot(s), the MA Design Studies program’s student-run journal, presents the community’s research and gives students opportunities to develop their design criticism writing abilities.

FASHION DESIGN & SOCIETY (MFA) School of Fashion

T

he MFA in Fashion Design and Society at Parsons School of Design is the first graduate program of its kind in the United States, with a unique interdisciplinary and international approach to fashion. Each year, a small group of students join this academy for advanced studies in fashion design and train to become innovative and progressive world-class designers. Initiated by Parsons alumna Donna Karan, the program has received support from major names in fashion such as LVMH, Kering, Diane von Furstenberg, Swarovski, and Uniqlo.

The two-year, 60-credit program

Part of Parsons’ renowned

combines intensive studio-based

School of Fashion, the MFA program

projects with research and, in the

offers students opportunities to

tradition of social inquiry at The

connect with the international

New School, helps students develop

community and industry partners

an understanding of the global

and take part in high-profile col-

critical, ecological, and business

laborations. Students have won or

contexts of their

placed as finalists at fashion events

work. Supplemental

such as the International Fashion

classes in filmmak-

Showcase in London, International

ing, presentation, and

Talent Support (sponsored by

photography broaden

Diesel), H&M Awards, and the

students’ visual

LVMH Prize. Graduates have gone

design vocabulary

on to design for firms including

and communication

Alexander Wang, NIKE, Kanye

skills, preparing them

West for Adidas, St. John, Ralph

for collaborative pro-

Lauren, Everlane, Burberry, Donna

fessional workplaces.

Karan, Calvin Klein, Coach, Gap,

At the end of

Reed Krakoff, Narciso Rodriguez,

their second year,

and Opening Ceremony. Some

students present a

have launched businesses,

graduation collection during New

selling to stores such as Dover

York Fashion Week in September.

Street Market.

This prestigious show attracts press, buyers, and other industry insiders

Career paths include—Fashion

and is sponsored by individuals

Design; Research; Teaching.

and major fashion companies.

Student work is regularly featured

For more about faculty, courses,

in media outlets including the New

and requirements, visit

York Times, WWD, Vogue (U.S., UK),

newschool.edu/parsons-mfafds.

Vogue.com, 1 Granary, Business of Fashion, Elle, V Magazine, Marie Claire (U.S.), Fashionista.com, Wallpaper,* and many others.

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ABOVE: Andrea Jiapei Li, I AM WHAT (I AM),

from a runway show presented during New York Fashion Week at MADE Fashion, Milk Studios, in New York City BOTTOM: Pengji Cai, Garment Crash collection OPPOSITE: Katherine Mavridis, Rather, it

seeks a kind of suggestiveness; in holes, in emptiness

FASHION design & society (MFA)

TOP: Jia Hua, A Lot

FASHION STUDIES (MA) School of art and design history and theory

I

n the groundbreaking interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Fashion Studies program, students develop a critical understanding of fashion and its complex intersections with identities, histories, and cultures in the contemporary world.

MA Fashion Studies investigates the

opportunities to publish work and

material and visual dimensions of

collaborate with MA Fashion Studies

fashion as dress, image, and bodily

peers. Students complete internships

practice and as a major cultural

at fashion companies, magazines,

industry that positions the individ-

and museums, including Elle, V

ual within society and the world.

Magazine, the Fashion Institute

Students in the 42-credit program

of Technology, The Metropolitan

are challenged to explore

Museum of Art, Diane von

the interdisciplinary

Furstenberg, Comme des Garçons,

theories and methodol-

Ralph Lauren, Halston, and Hermès.

ogies that have shaped

Students have the opportunity

fashion studies and to

to spend a second-year

contribute to its advance-

semester at Parsons Paris,

ment. Core and elective

where they have unprec-

courses open up broad per-

edented access to some

spectives on fashion and its

of the most prominent

connections with design,

fashion and textiles collec-

production, consumption,

tions in France through the

imagination, representa-

Musée des Arts Décoratifs

tion, embodiment, and

and the Palais Galliera (see

identity. Informed by

page 11 for more informa-

perspectives from a variety

tion). Depending on their

of disciplines, courses

research interests, MA

examine material from art history,

Fashion Studies students

museum studies, gender studies,

may wish to supplement

visual studies, film and media studies,

their studies with the

anthropology, sociology, and

Graduate Certificate in

material culture studies.

Gender and Sexuality

The program draws on New

Studies (GSS), designed

York City’s museums, exhibitions,

to promote intellectual

and public events and also calls for

collaboration on issues

students to observe streets, neigh-

of gender and sexuality

borhoods, and retail environments

in a variety of disciplines.

critical to the fashion system. The

The program also offers

program sponsors public events,

a curatorial track that

panels, and symposia such as

explores the past, present, and

“Fashion Criticism” and “Fashion

future of fashion curation.

Curation.” Student-led projects, like the journal BIAS, offer students The new school parsons

MA Fashion Studies graduates have gone on to pursue PhDs at

top universities around the world or to work at top fashion media companies and publishing houses, including Rizzoli Publishing, Vogue, W, Nylon, I-D, and InStyle. Other graduates work as archivists, consultants, researchers, merchandisers, buyers, and public relations

TOP: Students in the Materiality of Fashion class examine a 1960s Yves St. Laurent colorblock dress from Parsons’ growing collection of garments available for hands-on study.

BOTTOM: Students document fashions ranging from couture to streetwear for cultural analyses that they present on a variety of platforms.

professionals in fashion houses,

OPPOSITE: BIAS is the annual

institutions, and corporations such

student-run publication of the program. Other issue themes have included Fashion + Surveillance and Fashion + Healing.

as The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute, Alexander Wang,

35

Gucci, J.Crew, and Louis Vuitton.

Career paths include—Fashion Archiving; Curation and Museum Administration; Gallery Management; Media and Consulting; Criticism; Journalism; Academia.

For more about faculty, courses, and requirements, visit newschool.edu/parsons-mafs.

Fashion studies (MA)

Collections Management;

FINE ARTS (MFA) School of art, media, and technology

G

uided by the belief that artists perform an essential role in society, the MFA in Fine Arts program provides a dynamic, challenging environment in which students develop diverse studio-based practices and pursue interdisciplinary scholarship.

Students come from many backgrounds and cultures and work in media including painting, drawing, sculpture, video, performance, digital media, installation, and photography.

MFA Fine Arts encompasses modes

been included in exhibitions

of study and practice ranging from

and institutions such as the

rigorous formal and aesthetic

Whitney Biennial, documenta,

investigations to social and political

the Sydney Biennale, and the

engagement. The two-year, full-time

Museum of Modern Art. MFA Fine

curriculum includes 27 studio, 12

Arts students also benefit from

academic, and 6 professional prac-

visits by artists and critics who are

tice credits and a minimum of 15

redefining 21st-century art. Recent

elective credits. Students

guests include Glenn Ligon and Carl

work independently in

Hancock Rux, Kate Gilmore, Guido

their own studios and

van der Werve, Simone Leigh, and

participate in weekly

Tony Albert. The visiting artist series

critiques with an interna-

is complemented by a Visiting

tionally acclaimed faculty

Curators/Critics series and Public

of art professionals. The

Art Fund talks sponsored by the

program curriculum

Vera List Center for Art and Politics

centers on one-on-one

at The New School, which recently

studio visits, group

hosted Jeff Koons, Fiona Banner, and

critiques, critical theory

Martin Creed.

seminars, personalized

MFA Fine Arts is housed in

classes, and writing and

Parsons’ School of Art, Media, and

research for studio prac-

Technology (AMT), alongside the

tice, as well as profes-

Communication Design, Design

sional practices seminars.

and Technology, Illustration, and

The Transdisciplinary

Photography programs. Shared fac-

Seminar reaches into

ulty and collaborative projects allow

the larger New School

students to explore the intersections

community and focuses on a range

between art, technology, design, and

of topics such as art and feminism,

social critique. Students can also

art and science, and art and poetry.

draw on the extensive resources of

Academic classes expose students

The New School, a progressive urban

to global contemporary discourse

university with a tradition of civic

on art and develop their critical

engagement and renowned graduate

abilities.

programs in the social sciences,

Students work alongside distinguished faculty whose work has The new school parsons

media studies, and urban studies.

37

TOP: Bing Han, Void #2. Oil

on canvas, 44 x 60 in.

Career paths include—Fine Art; Arts Administration; Curation; Museum Management; Art Criticism; Teaching.

For more about faculty, courses, and requirements, visit newschool.edu/parsons-mfafa.

BOTTOM: Thesis Exhibition Installation, The Kitchen, 2015 OPPOSITE: Jess English, The Original Skin #3. Aircraft-grade aluminum, fluorescent light, cleco fasteners, steel, plastic putty (approx. 74.4” x 60’)

fine Arts (MFA)

MIDDLE: John Furer, Sequence of Tenses III and IV. Spray paint on acrylic sheet, poplar, plywood, MDF, veneer

HISTORY OF DESIGN & CURATORIAL STUDIES (MA) School of Art and design history and theory

T

his prestigious two-year master’s degree program, offered by Parsons in conjunction with Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, brings an object-focused and practice-based approach to the study of European and American decorative arts and design from the Renaissance to the present. Housed for more than 30 years at Cooper Hewitt—the only U.S. museum devoted exclusively to historical and contemporary design—the program enables students to work directly with the museum’s collections and its curators, conservators, educators, and designers.

The MA History of Design and

provide partial tuition remission,

Curatorial Studies curriculum offers

are available. In addition, MA stu-

practical and theoretical instruc-

dents can apply for paid teaching

tion in researching and displaying

assistantships.

interiors and design objects such

Parsons’ School of Art and

as furniture, ceramics, metalwork,

Design History and Theory (ADHT)

textiles, and works in other media.

programs reflect the faculty’s exper-

New courses in curatorial studies

tise in areas including art and design

and courses exploring the history of

methodology and philoso-

design in social and cultural context

phy, design criticism, cultural

reflect the program’s broadened

anthropology, sustainability,

scope and relevance. Students com-

and material culture and are

plete the 42 required credits in two

designed to provide students

years of full-time study or three to

with opportunities to take

four years of part-time study.

related courses within ADHT.

In the renovated Cooper

Students can access courses

Hewitt, graduate students have

and collaborative projects tak-

opportunities to curate exhibi-

ing place throughout Parsons

tions, create programming for the

and The New School, which

public, and produce interpretive

open up new topics and areas

materials, which provide essential

of investigation in curatorial

hands-on experience in museum

practice and historical research.

and curatorial practices. Access to

Students graduate prepared to

the Smithsonian’s Design Library,

join alumni who work in some

New School library holdings, and

of the world’s most prestigious

the library consortium enriches

nonprofit, commercial, cultural,

object-based research. For-credit

and academic institutions.

internships enable students to explore professions in museums,

Career paths include—

auction houses, and galleries and

Curatorial and leadership posi-

on new online platforms. A limited

tions in museums and historic

number of master’s curatorial

houses; specialist

fellowships at Cooper Hewitt, which The new school parsons

Alumni Career Paths

and management positions in auction houses; academia; consulting for private and corporate collections; e-commerce; criticism and journalism; media For more about faculty, courses, and requirements, visit newschool.edu/parsons-mahistory.

Graduates hold curatorial posts in museums and collections worldwide and specialist positions in auction houses and galleries. They serve in a range of capacities related to interpreting, promoting, and educating the public about art and design.

Specialist positions in auction houses, galleries, and online platforms • Sotheby’s • Paddle.com • Christie’s • Doyle • Phillips • One Kings Lane Fellowships • Cranbrook Art Museum

• Winterthur Museum • Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum • Metropolitan Museum of Art Editorial positions (print and online) • Metropolis • New York Times • Martha Stewart Living • The Magazine Antiques Positions in interior design industries • Peter Marino Architects • HOK Associates • Archive Edition Textiles Academic positions • New York School of Interior Design • Parsons • National Institute of Design (India) • Fashion Institute of Technology • School of the Art Institute of Chicago

TOP: The program is housed in the newly renovated

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Shown here are students researching in the National Design Library, North Reading Room.

BOTTOM: Cooper Hewitt’s collection of more than 250,000 objects and its world-class library offer Parsons students unique opportunities for curating and interpreting design objects—and reaching new audiences.

39 history of design & curatorial studies (MA)

Curatorial positions in museums • Museum of Modern Art • Victoria & Albert Museum • Indianapolis Art Museum • Museum of Arts and Design • Metropolitan Museum of Art • Museum of Fine Arts, Houston • Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum • Wolfsonian Museum • M+ Museum (Hong Kong)

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN (MFA) School of constructed environments

P

arsons’ Master of Fine Arts in Industrial Design program offers an innovative two-year, 60-credit, full-time graduate curriculum that prepares students to negotiate the seemingly contradictory forces at play in the growing product design industry. Students explore the way goods can be produced in both localized contexts (a “making in place” approach, which relies on regionalized needs and constraints) and globalized contexts (employing design principles focusing on universal needs).

In the MFA Industrial Design pro-

environment, and promoting the

gram, students combine advanced

quality of life.

making skills and critical inquiry to

Students develop their

design for production at all scales,

knowledge and skills at the univer-

from low volume to high volume,

sity’s state-of-the-art product

employing methods ranging from

prototyping and testing facilities.

desktop manufacturing to systems

In their second semester, MFA

involving global supply chains.

students explore limited-run making in New York City, and in the third semester, they can investigate large-scale global production through virtual collaborations or study abroad.

An innovation-focused university with programs in the social sciences, business and management, media studies, and the performing arts, The New School offers complementary courses that enrich design practice. Local industry events and collaborations with commercial and nonprofit partners deepen

MFA Industrial Design’s curric-

connections to the field. A

ulum balances competing interests

specialized thesis project offers

such as economical production and

opportunities to develop designs

sustainability, consumerism, social

that advance—or challenge—

and environmental improvement,

industrial design theory and practice.

and global and local production,

New York City boasts

investigating ways to integrate and

the country’s largest number of

reconcile these forces as a whole.

creative-sector jobs and attracts

The faculty of design practitioners

top design talent. The MFA

aims to develop a community of

Industrial Design program

designers committed to improv-

attracts motivated, reflective

ing industry, protecting the

students with experience in

The new school parsons

TOP: Miriam Josi and Stella Lee Prowse, Nomad. Nomad is a locally manufactured planter made from recycled sailcloth and designed with New Yorkers’ small apartments in mind. The designers hope their product will encourage people to grow their own herbs and become aware of food sources.

LEFT: Parsons students and an in-house strategist at Poltrona Frau—a luxury furniture producer and frequent collaboration partner—explore the materials proposed for a competition project.

41

OPPOSITE: The design of

prepared to design innovative

candidates from other design

products and lead the industries

professions and disciplines such

that produce them as well.

as engineering, management, anthropology, and fine arts.

Career paths include—Industrial

Students graduate equipped with

Design; Product Development;

the ability to integrate the many

Manufacturing; Furniture Design;

considerations involved in product

Humanitarian and Service Design;

For more about faculty, courses,

design and to lead as socially aware

Toy Design; Design Management;

and requirements, visit

makers, strategists, and industry

Architectural Building Systems

newschool.edu/

specialists. Graduates emerge

parsons-mfaindustrial.

industrial design (mfa)

product design but also accepts

Spiraloop, a vegetable masher created by program director Rama Chorpash, engages the production processes of a local Brooklyn spring manufacturer.

The product embodies the kinds of decisions contemporary designers can make to influence systems involving employment, production and sustainability, and distribution, thereby advancing the field along responsible paths.

INTERIOR DESIGN (MFA) School of constructed environments

T

he Master of Fine Arts in Interior Design program at Parsons is uniquely positioned to lead the discourse and practice of interior design in the 21st century. Inaugurated in 2009 at Parsons, the school where formal interior design education began, this graduate program builds on 100 years of leadership in the field. Design as a social practice is the program’s guiding philosophy. Students explore design as a force for change, a means of environmental stewardship, and a tool for shaping experiences.

Integrating sustainable design

consumption, drawing and digital

strategies with new developments in

representation, and the history and

technology and materials, the two-

theory of interior design. Students

year, full-time professional MFA in

supplement core classes with

Interior Design program prepares

electives offered throughout Parsons

a new generation of designers to

and in other New School divisions in

address social changes and demo-

fields such as design and technol-

graphic shifts shaping

ogy, anthropology, psychology, and

clients’ needs today. A

environmental and urban studies.

faculty of distinguished

Using New York City as an

practicing professionals

urban laboratory, the curriculum

work with students to

draws on Parsons’ long-standing

imagine new possi-

connections to interior design and

bilities for the design

architecture firms, manufacturers,

of habitable space.

galleries, and museums. During the

Recently the program

second year, students develop a

hosted “AfterTaste,” an

research project that culminates in

annual international

an independent design proposition,

conference dedicated to

written thesis book, and exhibi-

expanding the conceptual connec-

tion. Graduates are positioned to

tions between interior design and

transform the field as practitioners

related fields including art, archi-

and educators by working in interior

tecture, film, science, psychology,

design and architecture studios,

philosophy, medicine, and music.

developing new practices, and

A 60-credit, studio-centered, research-oriented curriculum challenges students to analyze the

collaborating with nonprofit, government, and educational institutions.

The program is offered by

relationship between human

Parsons’ School of Constructed

behavior, comfort, and perception

Environments (SCE), which also

and the built interior. Courses

houses related programs in archi-

investigate materials and their envi-

tecture, lighting design, and product

ronmental impact, fabrication and

design. SCE students share research

manufacturing processes, building

and fabrication facilities and work

systems and operational energy

together in an open design studio

The new school parsons

MFA Lighting Design and Interior Design Double Major The School of Constructed Environments offers students wishing to combine studies in interior design and lighting design a unique double major. collaborating on projects, uniting historically separate design disciplines to support crossdisciplinary innovation.

Career paths include—Interior Design; Industrial Design; Sustainable Design; Consulting; Teaching.

In the MFA Lighting Design and Interior Design double major, a three-year, 90-credit-hour curriculum, students develop an in-depth technical and aesthetic understanding of the relationship between light and interior design.

Interested students should apply directly to the double major

43

program; they will automatically be considered for admission to the individual MFA Interior Design and MFA Lighting Design programs as well.

TOP: Students created the environment shown here for the evening dinner of the “AfterTaste 2015: Inside Imagination” symposium.

OPPOSITE: Gosia Rodek, Pockets of the

Interiors: Private workspheres in the openplan environment

For more about faculty, courses, and requirements, visit newschool.edu/ parsons-mfainterior.

interior design (mfa)

BOTTOM: Paolo Agostinelli, Food for the City.

This project proposes alternatives to current food systems; shown here is a space in which urbanites connect through rituals of dining.

LIGHTING DESIGN (MFA) School of constructed environments

T

he Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design program at Parsons, the first of its kind in the world, has trained leaders in this rapidly evolving field for more than 45 years. With a solid foundation in the intellectual, aesthetic, and technical dimensions of light, Parsons’ interdisciplinary curriculum focuses on human experience, sustainability, and the social impact of lighting design.

Students explore the relationships

The Lighting Design program

between theory, technical applica-

is part of Parsons’ School of

tion, energy conservation, and social

Constructed Environments (SCE),

and environmental aspects of

along with closely related programs

electric and natural light. The two-

in architecture, interior design, and

year, full-time course of study is

product design. In the open envi-

composed of 24 studio credits, 30

ronment of the SCE design studio,

credits of seminars (on cultural,

students work collaboratively on

historical, and perceptual aspects

complex problems ranging from

of light), and 6 electives. The

single interior

unique curriculum is anchored in

environments to

an integrated studio experience in

comprehensive

which students interact with peers

architectural

in architecture, interior design, and

volumes, outdoor

product design disciplines. Projects

public space, and

integrate research, conceptual

urban planning.

design development, innovative

The School

representational techniques, techni-

of Constructed

cal analysis, and full-scale study to

Environments

uncover the experiential and social

also offers

implications of illumination.

two multidisciplinary programs,

The birthplace of architectural

described on page 35, that enable

lighting design, New York City offers

students to develop an in-depth

students abundant opportunities for

technical and aesthetic understanding

learning and career advancement.

of the relationship between light,

The MFA Lighting Design program’s

architecture, and interior design.

strong connections with the international architectural lighting design

Career paths include—

community help students enter a

Architectural and Interior Lighting

robust and growing workforce ready

Design; Theatrical Lighting;

to succeed. With professional job

Exhibition Lighting; Equipment

placement rates of nearly 95 per-

Design and Manufacturing

cent, graduates of the MFA Lighting Design and multidisciplinary

For more about faculty, courses,

lighting design programs (see boxes

and requirements, visit

on page 41) are poised to become

newschool.edu/parsons-mfald.

leaders in this exciting field.

The new school parsons

TOP: James Clotfelter, Silvia Mazzarri, Jordana Maisie, Atrium electric lighting visualization OPPOSITE: Access to the

Lighting Lab—a resource unique to this Parsons program—lets students take varying lighting conditions into account in their designs.

BOTTOM: Sirada

Kuevibulvanich and Junkyeong Park, Light, Vision, and Representation

MFA Lighting Design/Master of Architecture Dual Degree Those who wish to pursue studies in lighting design and architecture can apply to the dual-degree program, a four-year, 120-credit-hour curriculum that combines the NAAB-accredited

MFA Lighting Design and Interior Design Double Major

Master of Architecture and

The School of Constructed

MFA Lighting Design. Interested

Environments offers students

students should apply directly to

wishing to combine studies

this dual-degree program; they

in lighting design and interior

will automatically be considered

design a unique double major.

for admission to the individual

In the MFA Lighting Design and

Master of Architecture and MFA

Interior Design double major,

Lighting Design programs as well.

a three-year, 90-credit-hour

45

curriculum, students develop an in-depth technical and aesthetic understanding of the relationship between light and interior design.

Interested students should apply program; they will automatically be considered for admission to the individual MFA Interior Design and MFA Lighting Design programs as well.

lighting design (mfa)

directly to the double major

PHOTOGRAPHY (MFA) School of art, media, and technology

T

he MFA Photography program prepares students to become practicing artists and scholars who redefine the creative role of photography within contemporary culture. The program challenges students to move beyond current paradigms, anticipating and setting trends rather than following them.

The flexible 26-month, 60-credit

issues in the field. Annual graduate

MFA Photography curriculum

thesis exhibitions and publications

enables students to undertake local

extend students’ reach into art

internships and apprenticeships

communities. Graduates go on to

and participate in international

publish, exhibit internationally, and

projects. The program begins with

work in related positions.

an eight-week summer session

The MFA in Photography

in residence at Parsons, the first

program is part of Parsons’ School

of three, in which students attend

of Art, Media, and Technology

lectures by and meet with visiting

(AMT), which is also home to the

artists, curators, and critics. Recent

Communication Design, Fine

visitors include Elinor Carucci, Lisa

Arts, Design and Technology,

Oppenheim, Eva Respini, Anna

and Illustration programs.

Ostoya, Charlotte Cotton, Tehching

Photography students work

Hsieh, Matthew Buckingham, Louise

together and access the many

Lawler, Jason Fulford, Penelope

academic resources of The New

Umbrico, Jill Magid, Dread Scott,

School, including all of Parsons’

Artie Vierkant, and James Welling.

programs, for their research.

In the fall and spring semesters, students engage in faculty-

Career paths include—

supervised independent study and

Commercial Photography;

conduct focused research in courses

Editorial Photography; Fashion

on campus or online.

Photography; Documentary

The school’s long-standing ties

Production; Fine Art

to the photography and art communities offer students access to New

For more about faculty,

York City and international partners

courses, and requirements, visit

for internships, exhibitions, research,

newschool.edu/

and representation. Rigorous

parsons-mfaphoto.

critiques and regular meetings with faculty and professional artists help students situate their work within broader historical, theoretical, and visual culture contexts. Programsponsored conferences, such as the recent “Photographic Universe,” bring together practitioners and critics to explore contemporary The new school parsons

47

ABOVE: Charlie Rubin, Red Rock

Painted Truck Purple Tree BOTTOM: Lara Atallah, The

Abandoned Dinner Party (Coffee Time)

photography (mfa)

TOP: Craig Callison, Desktop_003, 2014, Pigment Print

STRATEGIC DESIGN & MANAGEMENT (MS) School of design strategies

T

he Master of Science in Strategic Design and Management program brings together a diverse group aspiring to initiate and lead change in emerging fields: business professionals wishing to complement their business skills with design capabilities, design practitioners seeking to acquire expertise in business and leadership, and entrepreneurs looking to develop transformative business propositions for an evolving global economy. Led by a world-class faculty, the program is academically rigorous and industry focused.

Students can complete the MS entirely on campus or online, or study both on campus and online.

The MS in Strategic Design and

in projects structured like real-world

Management responds to the major

industry consulting jobs.

restructuring of economies world-

With evening classes and

wide. The program incorporates

online instruction, this flexible

design thinking, service design, and

graduate program is well suited

sustainability frameworks. Strategic

to early- to mid-career profes-

Design and Management graduate

sionals seeking to complement

students focus on the evolving

their design and business expertise

global economy and are exposed to

with professional application. The

sophisticated real-world perspec-

program connects students to the

tives on operations, sustainability,

broader intellectual community

management, leadership, intrapre-

of Parsons and other schools and

neurship, entrepreneurship, and

colleges of The New School. Housed

design innovation and research. A

in the School of Design Strategies

36-credit program, Strategic Design

at Parsons, the program is part of

and Management divides into two

a leading urban university known

sections, each with its own distinct

for its courses on design thinking,

pedagogy: academic courses and

organizational management,

integrative studios, both offered on

nonprofit management, sustain-

campus and online. Coursework

ability management, leadership,

incorporates cutting-edge analyses

and entrepreneurship.

of the new economy, which help students develop new business

Career paths include—Business;

models and organizational designs

Sustainability Management;

for the creative industries. These

Innovation; Social Innovation;

classes provide hands-on experi-

Entrepreneurship; Strategic and

ence in designing, managing, and

Service Design.

improving design-intensive and creative firms—and help students

For more about faculty, courses,

develop their capacity to inspire and

and requirements, visit

lead creative teams. In the studios,

newschool.edu/parsons-mssdm.

students apply their course learning The new school parsons

Certificate Option Part of the MS curriculum is available as an 18-credit Graduate Certificate in Business of Design. In this innovative program, students complete six design management, leadership, and innovation courses to qualify for the certificate. The program is aimed at professionals interested in managing in creative fields, innovation-focused companies, and firms that routinely employ design.

49

To learn more, visit newschool.edu/ parsons-businessdesign.

The Global Executive Master’s in Strategic Design and Management—an 18-month program conducted primarily online and with week- and weekend-long intensives in Paris, New York City, and Shanghai—is administered by TOP: Students share their research at a public

event held at Brooklyn’s Industry City venue.

BOTTOM: Students in the recent Designing

Thoughts workshop, led by trend analyst and program visiting fellow Zuzanna Skalska, learned about new economies, their effects on society and commerce, and the value of global awareness. They were then asked to imagine future business challenges and develop creative responses to them.

Parsons in New York City. Students can complete study while working full-time.

To learn more, contact us at global@newschool.edu.

strategic design & management (ms)

Global executive Option

THEORIES OF URBAN PRACTICE (MA) School of design strategies

T

he Master of Arts in Theories of Urban Practice program offers an innovative path for students interested in acquiring a critical understanding of the design of urban environments and the transdisciplinary knowledge required to transform cities.

The program reframes the study of urbanism and urban design as transformative practices that draw on an expanding body of knowledge, research, and action.

This 36-credit research-driven MA degree program is for students who wish to pursue advanced studies in urbanism or careers as urban researchers, designers, teachers, design critics, policy advisors, and leaders of nonprofit organizations, public agencies, and private design and development firms.

Students conduct research and develop design strategies through

Career paths include—Urban

critical engagement with contem-

Design; City Planning; Government

porary urban issues. They can take

Administration; Nonprofit

part in project-based studios in

Management; Collaborative

related programs, including Parsons’

Urbanism; Teaching; Research;

MS in Design and Urban Ecologies

Social Enterprise.

and MFA in Transdisciplinary Design, as well as other New School

To learn more about faculty,

graduate programs. The program

course descriptions, and

is housed in Parsons’ School of

requirements, visit

Design Strategies, an educational

newschool.edu/parsons-matup.

environment that fosters innovative thinking about and experimentation with the design of cities, services, and ecosystems. Parsons is part of The New School, a pioneering university located in the heart of New York City that offers some of the nation’s most respected programs in design, social sciences, liberal arts, performing arts, and management and policy.

The new school parsons

TOP: MA Theories of Urban Practice

program students Renae Diggs (left) and Joy Alise Davis (center) interview residents near Diversity Plaza in Jackson Heights, Queens, for their research.

51

OPPOSITE: Today urban designers often

BOTTOM: A student sketches an infographic depicting the development of Cairo’s Al-Azhar Park, a complex 20th-century project to design an urban public space incorporating local needs, resources, and vernacular landscaping and architecture on a 500-year-old landfill site.

theories of urban practice (ma)

involve local stakeholders in the process of urban transformation, including the creation of public policy. Here, students meet with community members to gauge interest in a recycling initiative.

TRANSDISCIPLINARY DESIGN (MFA) School of design strategies

E

mphasizing collaborative design-led research, Parsons’ Master of Fine Arts in Transdisciplinary Design program serves as an academic laboratory in New York City for graduate students seeking to define the next phase of design practice globally.

The MFA in Transdisciplinary

• Systems explores ways to

Design program was created for

integrate ecological, economic,

designers interested in developing

technological, and social systems

ideas, tools, and working methods to address the complex challenges of a global culture. Students work in cross-disciplinary teams, learn from industry leaders, and emerge

to achieve common ends.

• Sustainability considers how to build public infrastructure for sustainable practices.

• Social investigates the use of

with a portfolio that reflects the use

design to envision new modalities

of design processes to transform

of social interaction and

social interactions and complex systems. Graduates go on to work

community engagement.

• Urban seeks ways to reshape

in traditional design consultancies

everyday practices within highly

as designers and researchers; with

networked urban environments.

in-house design teams within private and public organizations,

Career paths include—Service

where they can apply their skills in

Design; Design Consulting;

new ways (such as restructuring

Academia; Business Development;

health care services); developing

International Development;

projects for nonprofit organizations;

Entrepreneurship; In-house

and establishing their own design

Design Leads within Government

consultancies and microbusinesses.

Organizations and other Industries

The MFA in Transdisciplinary Design program is housed in

For more about faculty, courses,

Parsons’ School of Design Strategies

and requirements, visit

(SDS), alongside graduate programs

newschool.edu/parsons-mfatrans.

in Design and Urban Ecologies, Strategic Design and Management, and Theories of Urban Practice.

In its programs and projects, SDS employs innovative approaches to design and business education in the context of cities, services, and ecosystems.

This two-year, 60-credit program focuses on project-based work connected to four informal research pathways:

The new school parsons

TOP: Howard Chambers

and Bland Hoke, Softwalks.

Softwalks is a set of easy-toinstall components that uses construction scaffolding to support seating, plantings, and lighting, fostering social interaction in a greener urban landscape. Softwalks won Fast Company magazine’s Innovation by Design Award (Student Category).

MIDDLE: Doremy Diatta,

BOTTOM: Amplify The Bronx, the latest in a series of social innovation projects led by Parsons students and faculty, engaged local residents and staff of Soundview Park in a community engagement co-designing activity. Students learned about challenges facing park users and administrators, heard residents’ perceptions of the park, and tested concepts aimed at increasing local stewardship and use of the park.

53

transdisciplinary design (mfa)

Material Communications. For her thesis, Diatta developed objects for parents of children with disruptive behavioral disorders to use at home to practice techniques learned in therapy. With support from Parsons, Diatta recently presented her thesis at the 2015 Design Indaba conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

STUDENT SERVICES

Housing The university offers graduate housing, but most graduate students choose to live off campus. To learn more about housing options on and off campus, visit newschool.edu/student-housing.

Career Services Internships and collaborations with external partners connect students with New York City’s professional communities and institutions and enrich their educational experience. Through these projects students develop valuable skills in collaboration.

The New School’s Student Success office assists students by developing industry contacts and professional opportunities. To help students find work, the office offers a range of services, including • One-on-one counseling on job strategies • Résumé, portfolio, and interview preparation • On-campus job and internship fairs • Access to an online job database with more than 30,000 registered employers • Alumni career panels, workshops, and special events • A resource blog To learn more, visit newschool.edu/career-services.

To read alumni profiles, visit newschool.edu/ parsons-alumni.

The new school parsons

55

student services

TUITION, SCHOLARSHIPS, AND FINANCIAL AID

A

graduate education is an investment in your future.

Students need to take action to be as well prepared as possible for the financial commitment. The New School Office of Student Financial Services can help students budget and find support resources, including aid. For information on the cost of attendance and financial services, visit newschool.edu/sfs.

Financial Aid and Scholarships All graduate students who apply by the priority scholarship deadline of January 1* are considered for New School merit-based scholarships; no additional application is required. In addition, U.S. citizens or legal residents should file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) between October 1 and March 1 if they are applying for either the summer or the fall term.

The FAFSA can be found online at fafsa.ed.gov (the New School/Parsons code is 002780).

Some graduate programs offer paying research assistant and teaching assistant positions that support research and develop students’ skills while defraying the costs of attendance.

Students should also research non–New School scholarships and grants that can be applied to graduate study.

For a list of additional scholarship opportunities, visit newschool.edu/scholarships-and-grants.

Tuition and cost of attendance For up-to-date information on tuition and fees, visit newschool.edu/tuition-and-fees. * Applications received after January 1 may be considered if space is available in the program. Late applications may be less competitive for scholarship consideration.

The new school parsons

57

Office of Student Financial Services 72 Fifth Avenue, 2nd floor New York, NY 10003 212.229.8930 sfs@newschool.edu

tuition, scholarships, and Financial aid

Contact Student Financial Services

ADMISSION

M

ost students who are considering graduate study begin the application process in the fall before their intended term of entry. The following timetable outlines a schedule of the necessary steps.

Fall

Spring

SUMMER

SEPTEMBER–DECEMBER

JANUARY–MAY

JUNE–AUGUST

• Review application

• Apply for the fall/

• Explore housing options.

requirements.

• Attend an admission event or portfolio review.¹ • Research non–New School scholarships.

• Register for the TOEFL or GRE if needed.

• Contact those who are writing recommendations.

• Request college transcripts.²

summer term by January 1 (priority scholarship deadline).

• Check your application status online at newschool.edu/ admissionhub.

• Submit FAFSA online by March 1.³ • Check for correspondence from admission and faculty.

• MFA Photography students begin class in early June.

• Register for classes.

• MFA Design and Technology students attend Bootcamp in late July.

• Attend orientation.

• Classes begin in late August.

• Check for admission decision letter, sent out in mid-March or later.

• Meet faculty and alumni at events for admitted students.

• Submit tuition deposit.

• Apply for international student visa if necessary.

The new school parsons

¹See website for locations. ² International transcripts require additional time for English language translation. ³Applies only to students who meet federal eligibility requirements.

Contact the Admission office Parsons School of Design Office of Graduate Admission

59

72 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10011 212.229.5150 thinkparsonsgrad@newschool.edu To apply, visit newschool.edu/parsons/apply.

The New School is accredited by the Middle States Commission

institutions with U.S. regional accreditation, recognizes three

on Higher Education. All degree programs at the New York City

types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of

campus of The New School are registered by the New York

Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may

State Department of Education. Parsons School of Design is

be granted an eight-year, three-year, or two-year term of

also accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art

accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with

and Design and is a member of the Association of Independent

established educational standards.

Colleges of Art and Design. For full information on the university’s

Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree

accreditation, visit newschool.edu/provost/accreditation.

programs may require a pre-professional undergraduate degree

The New School is a nonprofit university.

in architecture for admission. However, the pre-professional

degree from an accredited professional degree program as a

degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

Parsons School of Design offers the following NAAB-accredited

prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting

degree program: Master of Architecture (pre-professional degree +

Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit

90 credits). Next accreditation visit for this program: 2016.

professional degree programs in architecture offered by

Admission

In the United States, most registration boards require a

ADMISSION Learn More About Parsons and Visit the Campus There are a number of ways to connect with us: campus visits, open houses, portfolio days, and other admission events in New York City and around the world. If you are unable to travel, email an admission counselor.

GRADUATE STUDENT TOURS Tours are recommended for prospective, applied, and admitted students; they are intended not to provide answers to questions about academics or admission but rather to offer an overview of The New School’s facilities. Schedule a tour: newschool.edu/ parsons/grad-events. (Tours are not held on national holidays or when the university is closed.)

A highlight of the tour is the University Center (shown at right)—the new hub of campus life, designed to facilitate collaboration within the New School community. To learn more, visit newschool.edu/ university-center.

SPEAK WITH A PROGRAM DIRECTOR AND OBSERVE A CLASS Speak to a program director to learn more about programs. Visit the program landing webpage to find the name of the director, and select the name to obtain an email address. Or find contact information using the New School online directory, at newschool.edu/directory.

Some program directors welcome class visits.

INFORMATION SESSIONS, WEBINARS, AND GRADUATE PORTFOLIO DAYS Prospective students should attend an information session to learn about Parsons, The New School, and Parsons’ graduate programs. Admission counselors explain the admission and financial aid process and answer questions. Webinars are also offered throughout the year. On Graduate Portfolio Days, faculty members give portfolio feedback before students apply. For more information, including upcoming session dates, visit newschool.edu/parsons/grad-events.

SPEAK WITH AN ADMISSION COUNSELOR If you have not yet submitted an application to Parsons or were recently admitted and have questions, request an appointment with an admission counselor by emailing thinkparsonsgrad@newschool.edu.

The new school parsons

A few facts that

The new school

set us apart

at A GLANCE

#1 FOR SMALL CLASSES: Among national

• Founded in 1919.

universities, The New School had the highest proportion of classes with fewer than 20 students.

2015, U.S. News & World Report #1 ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL: Parsons School of Design was named the Best College for Art and

• Located in the heart of NYC in Greenwich Village, with a branch campus in Paris.

• Houses five schools and colleges.

• Offers 151 degree and diploma programs and majors and more than 49 minors.

Design in the United States.

• Has more than 10,000 degree-seeking students.

2015, Quacquarelli Symonds World

• Students come from all 50 states and 115

University Rankings #1 MOST INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: We have a higher percentage of international students than any other U.S. university.

2014, U.S. News & World Report #1 FOR SUSTAINABLE BUILDING: The American Institute of Architects named the New School University Center one of the greenest buildings in the United States—and it’s the largest LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certified urban university building.

foreign countries.

• The New School offers a range of graduate programs. See details at newschool.edu/academics.

Membership and Accreditation The New School is a member of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and is accredited by the New York State Board of Regents and by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

The information published here represents the plans of the university at the time of publication and does not constitute an irrevocable contract between the student and The New School. The university reserves the right to change without notice any matter contained in this publication, including but not limited to tuition, fees, policies, degrees, programs, names of programs, course offerings, academic activities, academic requirements, facilities, faculty, and administrators. Payment of tuition or attendance at any classes shall constitute a student’s acceptance of the administration’s rights as set forth above. For important information including accreditation, student rights, campus safety statistics, and tuition and fees, visit newschool.edu/your-right-to-know.

The New School is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution. Published 2016 by The New School. Produced

by Marketing and Communication, The New School.

Photo credits: James Ewing, Andrew Gam, Conway Liao, Jessica Miller, courtesy of Daniel Sauter, Adam Schwartz, Martin Seck, Matthew Septimus, Albert Vecerka, Phillip Van Nostrand.

SCHOOL OF DRAMA

graduate Programs

Acting MFA Directing MFA Playwriting MFA

PARSONS School

THE NEW

of Design

SCHooL FOR

MILANO SCHooL

Architecture MArch

SOCIAL RESEARCH

OF INTERNATIONAL

Architecture/Lighting Design

Anthropology MA/PhD

AFFAIRS, MANAGE-

MArch/MFA

Creative Publishing and Critical

MENT, AND URBAN

Business of Design (graduate

Journalism MA

certificate)

Economics MA/MS/PhD

POLICY

Communication Design MPS

Global Political Economy and

Launching in fall 2017

Finance MA

Environmental Policy and Sustain ability Management MS International Affairs MA/MS

Data Visualization MS

Gender and Sexuality Studies

Design and Technology MFA

(graduate certificate)

Design and Urban Ecologies MS

Historical Studies MA

Design Studies MA

Liberal Studies MA

Fashion Design and Society MFA

Philosophy MA/PhD

Management MS

Fashion Studies MA

Politics MA/PhD

Organization Development

Fine Arts MFA

Psychology MA/PhD

(graduate certificate)

History of Design and Curatorial

Clinical Psychology PhD

Public and Urban Policy PhD

Studies MA

Cognitive, Social, and

Sustainability Strategies

Industrial Design MFA

Interior Design MFA

General Psychology MA

Urban Policy Analysis and

Lighting Design MFA

Harm Reduction (noncredit

Management MS

Photography MFA

certificate)

Strategic Design and

Sociology MA/PhD

Developmental Psychology PhD

Management MS* Theories of Urban Practice MA

college of

Transdisciplinary Design MFA

performing arts Arts Management and

Parsons

Entrepreneurship MA

Design and Technology MFA

MANNES SCHooL

Fashion Studies MA

OF MUSIC

History of Design and

Collaborative Piano: Vocal MM Composition MM Guitar MM Harpsichord MM Orchestral Conducting MM Orchestral Instruments MM

* Global Executive option available.

See page 45.

(graduate certificate) Nonprofit Management MS Organizational Change

(graduate certificate)

CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM Creative Writing MFA

TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of

Paris

Curatorial Studies MA

Leadership and Change

Piano MM Theory MM

Other Languages (TESOL) MA

SCHooL OF MEDIA STUDIES Media Studies MA Media Management MS/graduate certificate Documentary Media Studies (graduate certificate)

0gies Art and dESIGN EDIA, AND TECHNOLOG MENTS DESIGN STRATE sIGN AND URBAN ECOLO ization DESIGN STUDI n design and society nD MANAGEMENT DESI history of DESIGN AND DESIGN INTERIOR DESIG gn fine arts THEORIES Communication DESIG ART, MEDIA, AND TECHN tED ENVIRONMENTS DE ARCHITECTURE design AND URBAN ECOLOGIES IGN AND TECHNOLOGY E ARTS STRATEGIC DESIG ORIES OF URBAN PRACT PARsons school of design Graduate Programs