Parsons School of Design

Graduate Programs

Parsons School of Design

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

18

M.ARCH Architecture

20

Mps COMMUNICATION DESIGN

22

MS Data visualization

24

MFA DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

26

MS DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES

28

MA DESIGN STUDIES

30

MFA FASHION DESIGN AND SOCIETY

32

MA FASHION STUDIES

34

MFA FINE ARTS

36

MA HISTORY OF DESIGN AND CURATORIAL STUDIES

38

MFA INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

40

MFA INTERIOR DESIGN

42

MFA LIGHTING DESIGN

44

MFA PHOTOGRAPHY

46

MS STRATEGIC DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT

48

MFA TEXTILES

50

MA THEORIES OF URBAN PRACTICE

52

MFA TRANSDISCIPLINARY DESIGN

54

Student services

56

Tuition, Scholarships, and Financial Aid

58

Admission

3

Table of contents

ABOUT PARSONS

P

arsons gives students the tools needed to achieve professional success and prepares them to think beyond current para-

digms. 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 2016)

12,889 Total enrollment at The New School

3,226 Total graduate enrollment at

7

The New School

933 Total graduate enrollment at Parsons

5,978 Total enrollment at Parsons

60 Percentage of international graduate students at Parsons

Average class size

10:1 Student-to-faculty ratio at Parsons

ABOUT PARSONS

15

ACADEMICS

W

ith a renowned comprehensive curriculum, Parsons offers students opportunities to collaborate across disciplines within a diverse intellectual community.

The university’s extensive libraries, archives, studios, 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 degrees, 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 at newschool.edu/ parsons-aas. Fields of study include areas such as fashion design, graphic/communication design, interior design, and fashion marketing/communication.

Continuing studies through open campus Open Campus, The New School’s progressive approach to continuing education, offers open enrollment courses with Parsons, enabling nondegree students of all ages to build portfolios, take art and design courses for credit or on a noncredit basis, or pursue certificates. 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 opencampus.newschool.edu The new school parsons

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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, and ENSAD (École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs), give students unique learning experiences. Parsons Paris offers the following graduate programs: • 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.

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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.

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

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Parsons’ new Making Center—25,000 square feet of cutting-edge and traditional creative tools and workspaces—fosters collaborative work, hybrid making, and innovative manufacturing processes.

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 the arts in civic life.

BOTTOM: Students from Parsons’ School

GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES

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.

MFA Lighting Design students created Resonance, an interactive installation featured in “Questioning Light,� a public program exploring the critical role humans play in designed experience.

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programs

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.

throughout The New School.

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.

The new school parsons

The MArch is a program within

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 prominent firms, including Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Rogers Marvel Architects, LevenBetts, Bernheimer Architecture, Gensler, Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis, Matter

M.Arch/MFA Lighting Design Dual Degree Those who wish to pursue studies in lighting design and architecture can apply to the dual-degree program, a 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.

Hawkinson, and Young Projects.

Engineering; Urban Planning; Landscape Design; Interior Design

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

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

and Mochi Liu. Project for spring 2013 Housing Studio.

Architecture (M.ARCH)

Architecture Practice, Smith-Miller

Career paths include—Architecture;

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four-year, 120-credit-hour curriculum that

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. Parsons’ Master of Professional Studies in Communication Design (MPS CD), with a concentration in 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

teamwork strategies. You work

housed within Parsons’ School of

from design conception and pitch-

Art, Media, and Technology, along

ing through post-launch critical

with programs in fine arts, design

analyses of user experience (UX)

and technology, photography,

and interaction (UI). The New York

and data visualization. You can

City location enables you to take

supplement 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 science, or another field.

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Career paths include—Interaction Design; User Experience (UX) Design; Digital Product Design; Product Management For more about faculty, courses, and requirements, visit

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)

newschool.edu/parsons-mpscd.

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.

The presentation of data is integral

guest lecturers and critics to share

in the shaping of opinion, policy,

their insights and expose students

and decision making in today’s

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 collaborate with industry

ABOVE: Jacob Romer. Romer’s

leaders and external partners from

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

the government, nonprofit, and commercial sectors. Faculty invite The new school parsons

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TOP: Jonathan Thirkield, Visu-

BOTTOM: A student presents

her digital tool, created in a class partnership with the United Nations.

data visualization (ms)

alizing Poetic Space: Mapping Dante’s Comedy. Thirkield’s 3D interactive tool is designed to help readers engage deeply with Dante’s Divine Comedy. The interface reimagines the poetic space of the literary classic using Javascript, the Three.js 3D library, and a MongoDB database.

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

D

esigners today face two fundamental challenges: the increasing influence of design within society and the expanding 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,

of American Art. Students collabo-

60-credit MFA in Design and

rate with peers from other schools

Technology (MFA DT) curriculum is

and colleges of The New School, a

studio based, but critical thinking

progressive urban university empha-

and study of the design process are

sizing civic engagement.

central to the program. Areas of

MFA DT resides in the School

practice include interaction design,

of Art, Media, and Technology at

physical computing, game design,

Parsons, alongside programs in

new media art, digital fabrication,

communication design, fine arts,

data visualization, and critical

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, Samsung, and the Whitney Museum The new school parsons

program alumni Recent graduates include Open Standards Developer R/GA Founder Fridge network, Google+ Design Analyst Frog Design Inc.

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.

Creative Technologist Google Creative Lab

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

Interaction Designer IBM Design

OPPOSITE BOTTOM: Ramsey Nasser, Zajal. Zajal is a

Creative Technologist New York Times R&D Lab

BELOW: Dong Yoon Park, Typography Insight. This app

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programming language for artists and hackers.

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 fieldwork, research, policy analysis, and activism, students gain a broad understanding of the complex forces that influence urban growth and development. Inspired by The New School’s long-standing commitment to social justice, students develop and implement innovative strategic projects that transform community organizing, food systems, housing, public transportation, and nonprofit management.

The first graduate program of its

address issues of contemporary

kind in the United States, the two-

urbanization.

year, 60-credit Master of Science

Students share a core curric-

in Design and Urban Ecologies

ulum with the MA in Theories of

explores the urban complex and

Urban Practice program and collab-

its interconnections with political,

orate with colleagues throughout

social, economic, and environmental

Parsons’ School of Design Strategies.

systems. Using world cities like

Students can also work with peers

New York as a laboratory and

in Parsons’ School of Constructed

working in transdisciplinary teams,

Environments and School of Art,

students design processes for urban

Media, and Technology; in The

transformation.

New School for Social Research; in

Bringing together the aca-

the Milano School of International

demic strengths of Parsons and

Affairs, Management, and Urban

other schools and colleges of The

Policy; and in other schools and

New School, this studio-based pro-

colleges of The New School.

gram trains graduates to become agents of change, working with the

Career paths include—Urban

communities and institutions that

Design; Urban and Regional

shape urban ecosystems.

Planning; Public and Urban Policy;

Guided by internationally

Leadership of Nonprofit and Civic

recognized urbanists, designers, and

Organizations; Community

activists, students confront urgent

Planning and Organizing;

problems facing cities and develop

Government Administration;

new research methodologies, design

Municipal/Regional Development;

frameworks, and critical urban

Social, Civic, and Environmental

practices.

Enterprises; Urban Research and

The program is aimed at urban

Consulting; Urban Curatorship;

planners, design professionals,

Academia; Doctoral Studies in

social scientists, community

Urbanism and related fields

leaders, and managers of nonprofit and government organizations

For more about faculty, courses,

motivated to critically

and requirements, visit newschool.edu/parsons-msdue.

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TOP: Students participate in a studio project

as part of their study abroad research in Brazil. They draw on studio design skills to develop their collaborative urban initiatives.

studio workshop organized by faculty and students in collaboration with community partners and local experts in The Rockaways, Queens.

MIDDLE RIGHT: An on-site visit sparks discussion

of the impact of the country’s first housing cooperatives. Planning and design schemes that lead to sustainable equitable cities are central to the program’s course of study.

BOTTOM: The Sunset Park Gazette, a

community publication collaboratively developed by students and local residents.

Design skills enable students to communicate about complex urban phenomena to audiences ranging from community members to academics to public officials.

DESIGN & URBAN Ecologies (MS)

MIDDLE LEFT: Design and Urban Ecologies’

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 be used to effect social change.

The 42-credit research-driven program critically addresses historical, philosophical, theoretical, and social issues—politics, gender,

• Design through the integration of ecological, economic, technological, and social systems • Design as a phenomenon whose

power relations—related to

analysis, insights, and his-

design practices and products.

tory offer guidance for dealing

Students work with pioneering

humanely with one another and

design thinkers, emerging with the concepts and skills they need to be informed activists, writers, researchers, scholars, and consultants.

MA Design Studies investigates how design affects human

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

experience and considers design as a fundamentally cross-disciplinary

Career paths—Graduates can

endeavor. Students are encouraged

work in design-led entrepreneurial

to take courses in the full range of

creative industries, applying their

graduate programs at Parsons (on

knowledge of design and social

subjects including design history,

innovation to assist in research to

curatorial studies, fashion studies,

support new product development,

urban studies, and media studies)

lead new approaches to curating

and at The New School for Social

and criticism, and help guide the

Research (on subjects including

work of media and consulting

anthropology, history, economics,

firms, think tanks, technology

philosophy, politics, psychology,

start-ups, and nonprofits such

and sociology).

as NGOs and foundations.

Aimed at both designers and

The program also provides a

non-designers, MA Design Studies

foundation for those who want

(which can be completed full-time

to pursue doctoral studies in

or part-time) offers four overlap-

related disciplines.

ping, flexible project-based research pathways:

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

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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.

BOTTOM: Plot(s), the MA Design Studies

design studies (MA)

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 world-class innovative and progressive 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 com-

New School, helps students develop

munity and industry partners and

an understanding of the global

take part in high-profile collabora-

critical, ecological, and business

tions. Students have won or placed

contexts of their

as finalists at fashion events

work. Supplemental

such as the International Fashion

classes in filmmaking,

Showcase in London, International

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 their

have launched businesses,

graduation collections 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 and

Design; Research; Teaching

major fashion companies.

Student work is regularly fea-

For more about faculty, courses,

tured in media outlets including the

and requirements, visit

New York Times, WWD, Vogue (U.S.,

newschool.edu/parsons-mfafds.

UK), 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

of Technology, The Metropolitan

program are challenged to

Museum of Art, Diane von

explore the interdisciplin-

Furstenberg, Comme des Garçons,

ary theories and method-

Ralph Lauren, Halston, and Hermès.

ologies 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 unprece-

courses open up broad per-

dented 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,

two pathways, in fashion

panels, and symposia such as

curation and fashion

“Fashion Criticism” and “Fashion

journalism, enabling students to

Curation.” Student-led projects,

gain deeper knowledge of fashion

like the journal BIAS, offer students

curatorial and archival practice or

The new school parsons

fashion journalism through a series of electives offered by the program and throughout the university.

MA Fashion Studies graduates have gone on to pursue PhDs at top universities around the world and 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, merchan-

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.

33

OPPOSITE: BIAS is the annual

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

disers, buyers, and public relations professionals in fashion houses, institutions, and corporations such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute, Alexander Wang,

Career paths include—Fashion Archiving; Curation and Collections Management; 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)

Gucci, J.Crew, and Louis Vuitton.

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

G

uided by the knowledge 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

distinguished faculty whose work has

of study and practice ranging from

been included in exhibitions and insti-

rigorous formal and aesthetic

tutions such as the Whitney Biennial,

investigations to social and political

documenta, the Sydney Biennale,

engagement. The two-year full-time

and the Museum of Modern Art. MFA

curriculum includes 27 studio, 12

Fine Arts students also benefit from

academic, and 6 professional practice

visits by artists and critics who are

credits and a minimum of 15 elective

redefining 21st-century art. Recent

credits. Students work

guests include Glenn Ligon and Carl

independently in their

Hancock Rux, Kate Gilmore, Guido van

own studios and

der Werve, Simone Leigh, and Tony

participate in weekly

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 Frank Willis Thomas, Fiona

critiques, critical theory

Banner, Heather and Ivan Morison,

seminars, personalized

and David Shrigley.

classes, and writing and

MFA Fine Arts is housed in

research for studio practice,

Parsons’ School of Art, Media, and

as well as professional prac-

Technology (AMT), alongside the

tices seminars. The MFA

Communication Design, Design

Fine Arts Advanced Practice

and Technology, Illustration, and

Electives are proposed

Photography programs. Shared fac-

by the program’s student

ulty and collaborative projects allow

body. The Transdisciplinary Seminar

students to explore the intersections

reaches into the larger New School

between art, technology, design,

community and focuses on a range

and social critique. Students can also

of topics such as art and feminism,

draw on the extensive resources of

art and science, and art and poetry.

The New School, a progressive urban

Academic classes expose students to

university with a tradition of civic

global contemporary discourse on art

engagement and renowned graduate

and develop their critical abilities.

programs in the social sciences,

Students work alongside The new school parsons

media studies, and urban studies.

35

TOP: Bing Han, Void #2. Oil on canvas,

44 x 60 in.

MIDDLE: John Furer, Sequence of Tenses

III and IV. Spray paint on acrylic sheet, poplar, plywood, MDF, veneer BOTTOM: Thesis exhibition installation,

The Kitchen, 2015

Arts Administration; Curation;

OPPOSITE: Paloma Jimenez, Sparkle Aplenty.

Museum Management; Art Criticism; Teaching For more about faculty, courses, and requirements, visit newschool.edu/parsons-mfafa.

Sponges, metal chain. The piece was recently recognized with the Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center.

fine Arts (MFA)

Career paths include—Fine Art;

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

In addition, MA students can apply

Curatorial Studies curriculum offers

for paid teaching assistantships.

practical and theoretical instruc-

Parsons’ School of Art and

tion in researching and displaying

Design History and Theory (ADHT)

interiors and design objects such

programs reflect the faculty’s

as furniture, ceramics, metalwork,

expertise in areas including art

textiles, and works in other media.

and design methodology

New courses in curatorial studies

and philosophy, design

and courses exploring the history of

criticism, cultural anthro-

design in social and cultural context

pology, sustainability, and

reflect the program’s broadened

material culture and are

scope and relevance. Students com-

designed to provide stu-

plete the 42 required credits in two

dents with opportunities to

years of full-time study or three to

take related courses within

four years of part-time study.

ADHT. Students can access

In the renovated Cooper

courses and collabora-

Hewitt, graduate students have

tive projects taking place

opportunities to curate exhibitions,

throughout Parsons and

create programming for the public,

The New School, which

and produce interpretive materials,

open up new topics and

which provide essential hands-on

areas of investigation in

experience in museum and

curatorial practice and

curatorial practices. Access to the

historical research. Students

Smithsonian’s Design Library, New

graduate prepared to join

School library holdings, and the

alumni who work in some

library consortium enriches object-

of the world’s most presti-

based research. For-credit intern-

gious nonprofit, commer-

ships enable students to explore

cial, cultural, and academic

professions in museums, auction

institutions.

houses, and galleries and on new online platforms. A limited number

Career paths include—

of master’s curatorial fellowships at

Curatorial and leadership

Cooper Hewitt, which provide par-

positions in museums and

tial tuition remission, are available.

historic houses; specialist

The new school parsons

Alumni Career Paths and management positions in auction houses; academia; con-

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.

sulting for private and corporate collections; e-commerce; criticism and journalism; media For more about faculty, courses, and requirements, visit newschool.edu/parsons-mahistory.

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.

37 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.

39

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

Interaction Design; Architectural

newschool.edu/

specialists. Graduates emerge

Building Systems

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 is uniquely positioned to lead 21st-century interior design discourse and practice. 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

supplement core classes with

strategies with new developments in

electives offered throughout Parsons

technology and materials, the two-

and in other New School colleges in

year, full-time professional MFA in

fields such as design and technol-

Interior Design program prepares

ogy, anthropology, psychology, and

a new generation of designers to

environmental and urban studies.

address social changes and demo-

Using New York City as an

graphic shifts shaping

urban laboratory, the curriculum

clients’ needs today. A

draws on Parsons’ long-standing

faculty of distinguished

connections to interior design and

practicing professionals

architecture firms, manufacturers,

work with students to

galleries, and museums. During the

imagine new possi-

second year, students develop a

bilities for the design

research project that culminates in

of habitable space.

an independent design proposition,

Conceptual connections

written thesis book, and exhibi-

between interior design

tion. Graduates are positioned to

and related fields

transform the field as practitioners

including art, archi-

and educators by working in interior

tecture, film, science,

design and architecture studios,

psychology, philosophy, medicine,

developing new practices, and

and music shape students’ work.

collaborating with nonprofit, govern-

A 60-credit, studio-centered, research-oriented curriculum

ment, and educational institutions.

The program is offered by

challenges students to analyze the

Parsons’ School of Constructed

relationship between human

Environments (SCE), which also

behavior, comfort, and perception

houses related programs in archi-

and the built interior. Courses

tecture, lighting design, and product

investigate materials and their envi-

design. SCE students share research

ronmental impact, fabrication and

and fabrication facilities and work

manufacturing processes, building

together in an open design studio

systems and operational energy

collaborating on projects, uniting

consumption, drawing and digital

historically separate design

representation, and the history and

disciplines to support cross-

theory of interior design. Students

disciplinary innovation.

The new school parsons

MFA interior Design and lighting Design Double Major The School of Constructed Environments offers students wishing to combine studies in interior design and lighting design a unique double major.

Career paths include—Interior Design; Industrial Design; Sustainable Design; Consulting; Teaching For more about faculty, courses, and requirements, visit newschool.edu/ parsons-mfainterior.

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 program; they will automatically be considered for admission to the individual MFA Interior Design and

41

MFA Lighting Design programs as well.

TOP: MFA Interior Design students designed and built this booth for a fundraiser held by DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS) called Dining by Design. Provided with $2,500 to create this booth, the students instead used found objects and donated the unused funds to DIFFA. Photograph: Marion Curtis/Starpix

OPPOSITE: Joel Rice, Portal. A stripped interior

corridor from the Neponsit Health Care Center melds with the landscape 120 years from now, when it is re-inhabited. Model photography, graphite, digital and physical collage

interior design (mfa)

BOTTOM: Somasree Chandra, Decolonising Space. Cell blocks in an abandoned police station are repurposed into rooms that play video projections by community residents to tell their own stories. 3D model on Rhino, rendering on Photoshop and Illustrator, physical collaging by hand and scanning

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 43, 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 43) are poised to become

newschool.edu/parsons-mfald.

leaders in this exciting field.

The new school parsons

M.arch/MFA Lighting Design Dual Degree Those who wish to pursue TOP: James Clotfelter,

Silvia Mazzarri, and 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

studies in lighting design and

Master of Architecture and

MFA Lighting Design and Interior Design Double Major

MFA Lighting Design. Interested

The School of Constructed

students should apply directly to

Environments offers students

this dual-degree program; they

wishing to combine studies

will automatically be considered

in lighting design and interior

for admission to the individual

design a unique double major.

Master of Architecture and MFA

In the MFA Lighting Design and

Lighting Design programs as well.

Interior Design double major,

architecture can apply to the dual-degree program, a four-year, 120-credit-hour curriculum that combines the NAAB-accredited

43

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

lighting design (mfa)

be considered for admission

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,

visitors include Elinor Carucci, Lisa

Fine Arts, Design and

Oppenheim, Eva Respini, Anna

Technology, and Illustration

Ostoya, Charlotte Cotton, Tehching

programs. Photography

Hsieh, Matthew Buckingham, Louise

students work together

Lawler, Jason Fulford, Penelope

and access the many

Umbrico, Jill Magid, Dread Scott,

academic resources of The

Artie Vierkant, and James Welling.

New School, including all

In the fall and spring semesters,

of Parsons’ programs, to

students engage in faculty-

support their research.

supervised independent study and conduct focused research in courses

Career paths include—

on campus or online.

Fine Art; Teaching;

The school’s long-standing ties

Commercial Photography;

to the photography and art commu-

Curation; Editorial

nities offer students access to New

Photography; Fashion

York City and international partners

Photography; Documentary

for internships, exhibitions, research,

Production; Photo Editing

and representation. Rigorous critiques and regular meetings with

For more about faculty,

faculty and professional artists help

courses, and requirements,

students situate their work within

visit newschool.edu/

broader historical, theoretical, and

parsons-mfaphoto.

visual culture contexts. Programsponsored conferences, such as the recent “Photographic Universe,” bring together practitioners and critics to explore contemporary The new school parsons

45

2014, Pigment Print 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,

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-

Management responds to the major

world industry consulting jobs.

restructuring of economies world-

Students can also take part in

wide. The program incorporates

multi-month programs offered by

design thinking, service design, and

Parsons’ ELab business incubator,

sustainability frameworks. Strategic

which are designed to develop

Design and Management graduate

entrepreneurship.

students focus on the evolving

With evening classes and

global economy and are exposed to

online instruction, this flexible

sophisticated real-world perspec-

graduate program is well suited

tives on operations, sustainability,

to early- to mid-career profes-

management, leadership, intrapre-

sionals seeking to complement

neurship, entrepreneurship, and

their design and business expertise

design innovation and research.

with professional application. The

A 36-credit program, Strategic

program connects students to the

Design and Management divides

broader intellectual community

into two sections, each with its

of Parsons and other schools and

own distinct pedagogy: academic

colleges of The New School. Housed

courses and integrative studios,

in the School of Design Strategies

both offered on campus and online.

at Parsons, the program is part of

Coursework incorporates cutting-

a leading urban university known

edge analyses of the new economy,

for its courses on design thinking,

which help students develop new

organization management,

business models and organization

nonprofit management, sustain-

designs for the creative industries.

ability management, leadership,

These classes provide hands-on

and entrepreneurship.

experience in designing, managing, and improving design-intensive

Career paths include—Business;

firms—and help students develop

Sustainability Management;

their capacity to inspire and lead

Innovation; Social Innovation;

creative teams. In the studios,

Entrepreneurship; Strategic and

students apply their course learning

Service Design

The new school parsons

Alumni Career Paths Graduates hold positions in a range of global firms, open their own consultancies, and launch start-ups in which design-led and entrepreneurial capacities provide competitive advantages.

Start-ups and consultancies • Founder/co-creator of Nazariya, a design business platform supporting young Indian artisans • Founder, Kalsada Coffee Company, a socially conscious, communityfocused business based in the Philippines • Founder/CEO of LOVESAC Designed for Life Furniture Co., a global home furnishings company • Co-founder, Blue Water Workshop, a design strategy and innovation lab • Founder/creative strategist, Art Tap, a fine art–based e-commerce start-up • Innovation, strategy, and entrepreneurial advisor based in Dubai • Communications and experience design strategist

In-house design strategy • Vice president/senior insights and design strategist, Innovation Lab at Citibank • Director of design/ consumer experience strategy team leader, UnitedHealth Group • Design strategist, Deloitte Digital • Director of product strategy, eSapiens, a Brazilbased tech company • Senior strategist, Wolff Olins, a global design and strategy agency • Innovation associate, Fahrenheit 212 • Senior product designer, McKinsey & Company

Global executive Option The Global Executive Master’s in Strategic Design and Manage-

47

ment—an 18-month program conducted primarily online and with week- and weekend-long and China—is administered by Parsons in New York City. Students can complete study while working full-time.

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

For more about faculty, courses,

TOP: Students in the recent Designing

and requirements, visit

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.

newschool.edu/parsons-mssdm.

BOTTOM: Students at Parsons’ ELab-

sponsored Design Jam + Hackathon develop design solutions for alumni start-ups.

strategic design & management (ms)

intensives in Paris, New York City,

TEXTILES (MFA) SCHOOL OF FASHION

T

oday makers, designers, and scholars are reimagining textiles— from locally crafted materials to 3D knitted and biofabricated matter to hand-embellished fabrics—and pioneering textilebased industries and theory. Launching in fall 2018, Parsons’ Master of Fine Arts in Textiles offers you a curriculum that engages your passion and the university’s extensive resources, preparing you for the growing array of opportunities related to textiles in fashion, product, interior, and scenic design; research; fine arts; architecture; and hybrid fields.

In the two-year, 60-credit full-time

MFA Textiles community is diverse

program, you develop a critical

and committed to expanding the

understanding of textiles’ sociocul-

field’s broad boundaries and creat-

tural, environmental, and emotional

ing hybrid practices that integrate

dimensions and consider their

Silicon Valley’s high-tech innova-

potential to unite craft and com-

tions with the Hudson Valley’s craft

putational technology. In studios,

techniques. Your studies prepare

you acquire skills in essential fiber

you for a future in which smart

techniques—yarn making, weaving,

textiles play many roles, collecting

knitting—and are introduced to

and transmitting data in a variety of

new creative methods and mate-

products, including domestic goods

rials, including smart fibers, digital

and woven technology.

pattern making, 3D knitting, and

New York Textile Month, a

wearable technology. You develop

citywide event initiated by MFA

and apply color forecasting abilities

Textiles founder Lidewij Edelkoort,

and explore high-tech and bio-

dean of Hybrid Design Studies at

tech production. You refine your

Parsons, reflects the program’s

aesthetic sensibilities and sustain-

community-based approach to pro-

able practice on-site in NYC textile

moting textile industries. The event’s

ateliers, deepening your collabora-

local partners become your men-

tive and studio abilities. Instruction

tors, inviting you into studios and

in small business best practices

businesses to build your skills and

rounds out your learning.

networks. The program also draws

This program is housed in

on Parsons’ institutional partners,

Parsons’ School of Fashion (SOF).

such as Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian

The school’s interdisciplinary

Design Museum. Lectures by global

approaches connect a spectrum

designers and producers add dimen-

of design disciplines and concerns

sion to your learning.

ranging from human factors to envi-

Textiles are integral to an array

ronmental sustainability to social

of industries—from ubiquitous com-

justice. Accordingly, the program

puting, automotive design, aerospace,

welcomes applicants from a variety

and health care to fashion, set, and

of fields, including textile research,

interior design—and represent a

studio design, and liberal arts (philo-

major growth field. In the program,

sophy, anthropology, history). The

you are guided to take an active

The new school parsons

49

Career paths include—Textile Design; Research; Entrepreneurship; Sustainability Consulting; Criticism; PR and Communications; Teaching For more about faculty, courses, and requirements, visit newschool.edu/parsons-textiles. role in textile industries, preparing to re-shore businesses, lend studio to biotech, launch a business as an independent designer or high-tech researcher, or pursue advanced studies. In the process, you cultivate the utopian aspects of creativity and foster textiles’ continuing role as a major cultural expression.

ABOVE: 3D printed textiles offer designers a new way to shape fabrics and produce in limited runs for a range of industries.

LEFT: The program prepares

students to work with textiles in industries ranging from aerospace to interior design to fashion.

TEXTILES (mfa)

skills to firms ranging from fashion

TOP: Students explore textile working methods including traditional weaving in courses and learning experiences onsite at NYC studios.

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 design practices in the context of cities and urban ecosystems and the transdisciplinary knowledge required to bring about urban change.

This 36-credit research-driven program reframes the study of urbanism and urban design as transformative practices that draw on an expanding body of knowledge, research, and action. This MA degree program is for students who wish to pursue advanced studies in urbanism and urban practices supporting social, spatial, and environmental justice or careers as urban researchers, designers, academics, 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 critical engagement with contemporary urban issues. They study design as a vehicle and a catalyst for bringing together government agencies, community-based groups, civic associations, and many other types of organizations. In their research, students often consider international questions or problems or address issues relevant to New York City. Students can take part in project-based studios in related programs, including Parsons’ MS in Design and Urban Ecologies, as

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.

Career paths include—Urban Design; City Planning; Government Administration; Nonprofit Management; Collaborative Urbanism; Teaching; Research; Social Enterprise

well as other New School graduate programs. The program is housed in Parsons’ School of Design Strategies, an educational environment that fosters innovative thinking about and experimentation The new school parsons

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

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Complex, designed by student Fernando Canteli de Castro. Students learn about the complexities and challenges of bringing about urban transformation in collaboration with local stakeholders and the nonprofit sector.

BOTTOM: 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.

OPPOSITE: Urban spaces with intertwined social, economic, and environmental problems are often the focus of student investigations and projects. Here students are guided on a visit to the South Bronx by local community members and experts.

theories of urban practice (ma)

TOP: Diagram of the Non-Profit Industrial

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 globally and effect positive social change.

The MFA in Transdisciplinary

design and business education in

Design program was created for

the context of cities, services, and

designers interested in developing

ecosystems.

and applying ideas, tools, and

This two-year, 60-credit

collaborative and experimental

program focuses on project-based

working methods to address the

work connected to four informal

complex challenges of a global

research pathways:

culture. Students work in crossdisciplinary teams and learn from renowned researchers, practitioners, and industry leaders. Students emerge from the MFA program with a portfolio that reflects the use of design processes to transform social practices and complex systems, engaging with larger issues throughout design. Graduates go on to work in cutting-edge design consultancies as designers and researchers; with in-house design teams within private and public organizations, where they can apply their skills in new ways (such as restructuring health care services); developing projects for nonprofit organizations; and establishing their own design consultancies and microbusinesses.

The MFA in Transdisciplinary Design program is housed in Parsons’ School of Design Strategies (SDS), alongside graduate programs in Design and Urban Ecologies, Strategic Design and Management, and Theories of Urban Practice.

In its programs and projects, SDS employs innovative approaches to

The new school parsons

• Systems explores ways to integrate ecological, economic, technological, and social systems to achieve common ends.

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

• Social investigates the use of design to envision new modalities of social interaction and community engagement.

• Urban seeks ways to reshape everyday practices within highly networked urban environments.

Career paths include—Service Design; Design Consulting; Academia; Business Development; International Development; Entrepreneurship; In-House Design Leads Within Government Organizations and Industries For more about faculty, courses, and requirements, visit newschool.edu/parsons-mfatrans.

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 about 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 presented her thesis at the 2015 Design Indaba conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

STUDENT SERVICES

Housing The university offers graduate housing in the 20th Street and 92Y residences, but most graduate students choose to live off campus. To learn more about both on- and off-campus housing options, visit newschool.edu/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 and career advisors assist students by developing industry contacts and professional opportunities. Services offered include: • One-on-one counseling • Résumé, portfolio, job search, 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’s 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

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.

ACCREDITATION 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 programs may require a pre-professional undergraduate degree

The New School is a nonprofit university.

in architecture for admission. However, the pre-professional

In the United States, most registration boards require a 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: 2024.

professional degree programs in architecture offered by

Admission

accreditation, visit newschool.edu/provost/accreditation.

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)—our campus hub, 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 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

61

A few facts that set us apart

The new school at A GLANCE

#1 FOR SMALL CLASSES: Among national

• Founded in 1919.

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

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

2017, U.S. News & World Report

• Houses five schools and colleges.

#3 ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL: Parsons

• Offers 134 degree and diploma programs

School of Design is ranked among the top art and design schools in the world.

2017, Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings

#1 MOST INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: We have a higher percentage of international students than any other U.S. university with more than 10,000 students.

and majors and more than 50 minors.

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

• Students come from all 50 states and 116 foreign countries.

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

2017, 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.

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.

For full information on the university’s accreditation, visit newschool.edu/provost/accreditation.

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. The New School is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution. For important information including student rights, campus safety statistics, and tuition and fees, visit newschool.edu/your-right-to-know.

Published 2017 by The New School. Produced by Marketing and Communication, The New School.

Photo credits: Daniel Costa, Livia Dos Santos, James Ewing, Andrew Gam, Conway Liao, Matthew Mathews, Jessica Miller, courtesy of Daniel Sauter, Adam Schwartz, Martin Seck, Matthew Septimus, Albert Vecerka, Phillip Van Nostrand The new school parsons

Graduate Programs Parsons School of Design

MANNES SCHOOL

Architecture MArch

Collaborative Piano MM, PSD

Architecture/Lighting Design

Composition MM, PSD

Dual Degree MArch/MFA

OF MUSIC

Guitar MM, PSD

Communication Design MPS

Harpsichord MM, PSD

Data Visualization MS

Orchestral Conducting MM, PSD

Design and Technology MFA

Orchestral Instruments

Design and Urban Ecologies MS

MM, PSD

MILANO SCHooL OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, MANAGEMENT, AND URBAN POLICY Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management MS International Affairs MA, MS Leadership and Change

Design Studies MA

Piano MM, PSD

Fashion Design and Society MFA

Theory MM, PSD

Nonprofit Management MS

Fashion Studies MA

Voice MM, PSD

Organizational Change

Fine Arts MFA

SCHOOL OF DRAMA

History of Design and Curatorial Studies MA Industrial Design MFA Interior Design MFA

Acting MFA Directing MFA Playwriting MFA

graduate certificate

Management MS Organization Development graduate certificate Public and Urban Policy MS, PhD Sustainability Strategies

Lighting Design MFA

THE NEW SCHooL FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH

Photography MFA

Anthropology MA, PhD

CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM

Strategic Design and

Creative Publishing and

Creative Writing MFA

Interior Design and Lighting Design Double Major MFA

Management MS* Textiles MFA Launching in fall 2018 Theories of Urban Practice MA Transdisciplinary Design MFA

Critical Journalism MA Economics MA, MS, PhD Global Political Economy and Finance MA Gender and Sexuality Studies graduate certificate

Parsons Paris

Historical Studies MA

Fashion Studies MA

Liberal Studies MA

History of Design and

Philosophy MA, PhD

Curatorial Studies MA

College of Performing arts Arts Management and Entrepreneurship MA

graduate certificate

Politics MA, PhD Psychology MA, PhD

TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) MA

SCHooL OF MEDIA STUDIES Media Studies MA Media Management MS, graduate certificate Documentary Media Studies graduate certificate

Clinical Psychology PhD Cognitive, Social, and Developmental Psychology PhD General Psychology MA Sociology MA, PhD

* Global Executive option available.

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PARsons school of design Graduate Programs