from the dean Dear Alumni and Friends
of the College of Design,
Entering the second half of the academic year offers the opportunity to reflect on accomplishments that our faculty, students, and alumni have achieved thus far. From the creation and opening of the new Center for Retail Design and Innovation (pp. 6 and 13) to the groundbreaking research conducted in part by the faculty and students in our Wearable Technology Lab (p. 5), our college community continues to be at the forefront of design research. These efforts have not gone unnoticed. Assistant Professor Genell Ebbini (Interior Design) was recently honored with a Women in Sustainability Leadership Award from gb&d magazine (p. 5). In addition, graduate student Brianne Fast (Landscape Architecture) was named a finalist in the Mikyoung Kim Extreme Design Competition, while Ian Harris, Warda Moosa, and Mary Xiong (all Apparel Design) took first place with their group project in the Industrial Fabrics Association International Advanced Textiles Student Design Competition (p. 12). Our students owe much of their success to the ongoing support of our design community. The recent establishment of the Janis and Susan Hegland Blumentals Scholarship provides essential opportunities for our students. You can learn more about this scholarship and other recent
college leadership
emerging
Spring 2020 Vol. 14, No. 2
editor
Amelia Narigon
design director Calee Cecconi
copy editor Elza Thayer
staff photographer Sam Reed
Carol Strohecker, dean; Abimbola Asojo, associate dean for research, creative scholarship, and engagement; Sauman Chu, associate dean for academic affairs; Steve Yang, assistant dean for student services; Trevor Miller, assistant dean for strategy and advancement
academic leaders
Missy Bye, Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel; Joe Favour, Department of Landscape Architecture; Blaine Brownell, Interim Head, School of Architecture
college of design advisory board
Stuart Ackerberg, Maurice Blanks, Roberta Bonoff, Mark Butler, Emily Callaghan, Tim Carl, Pat Cummens, John Cuningham, Jo Davison, Damon Farber, Kelly Gage, Jordan Hedlund, Mary McNellis, Tom Meyer, Linda Mona, Sandy Morris, Dave Norback, Diane Norman, Paul Reyelts, Susan Sokolowski, Mark Swenson, Gary Tushie, Burt Visnick, Michelle Wlazlo, Rieko Yajima
updates on our Driven by Design campaign in this issue’s featured section on pages 8–9. In addition to monetary support, our alumni play a crucial role acting as mentors to help students develop their career paths. In recent interviews, Chicago Fire Art Director David Krummel (B.Arch ’84) and entrepreneur Ben Leibham (B.S. ’18, Product Design) discussed the versatility of a design education and how they’ve applied their design degrees to unique and perhaps unexpected career paths (pp. 10 and 16). As we look ahead to the second half of the academic year, in this first year of what promises to be a challenging decade, I hope you will reflect on your own accomplishments and share what you have learned. Our students, and everyone in the college, benefit from hearing from you. The work we do collectively is necessary, not only to strengthen our community but to help find design-minded solutions to the world’s pivotal problems. Sincerely,
Carol Strohecker, Ph.D.
Professor and Dean College of Design
our mission
Through a unique commitment to creativity and advancing technologies, the College of Design at the University of Minnesota leads, innovates, and educates in a full range of design fields by researching ongoing and emerging issues, exploring new knowledge, and addressing and solving real-world problems, all while adhering to socially responsible, sustainable principles and collaborative design thinking. Emerging is published fall and spring semesters by the University of Minnesota College of Design for alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the college. This publication is available in alternative formats upon request. Please call 612-624-9751. Send address changes to design@umn.edu. Emerging is available online at design.umn.edu/emerging.
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
On the cover
Top: Poster design by Abby Adamski from GDES 4345 Advanced Typography’s Compendium of Creatures from Ancient Lore project. Bottom: Lighting design by Kotono Watanabe from ides 3612.