TRANSITIONS AND CHANGES

Organizational Restructuring Of The College Of Design

The college is in the process of reorganizing and is moving toward a twodepartment structure. The inclusion of academic programs in each new department is based on the affinity of disciplines. The names of the two new departments are in the process of being determined.

The first of the new departments has already formed. It includes apparel design, product design, graphic design, and retail merchandising. Professor Barry Kudrowitz is serving as its head.

The second department is forming more gradually, during this year and next. Ultimately it will be composed of architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design. Interior design has already moved out of the former Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel to join architecture. School of Architecture Head Jennifer Yoos is helping to oversee this process.

Meanwhile, the interim head of landscape architecture, Professor Kristine Miller, is helping to plan that discipline’s move during the next academic year. The restructuring process will be completed by the end of the spring term in 2024.

Questions about the restructuring? Please reach out to design@umn.edu.

Cdes Advances Design Justice Initiative

Launched in the fall of 2020, the Design Justice Initiative creates space, policies, and practices that support the inclusion and retention of Black, Indigenous, and people of color and other historically underinvested communities.

Two years after its founding, the director, Assistant Professor Terresa Moses, has worked with the Design Justice Collective to launch several events and programs supporting this mission. One such project is the Design Justice Faculty Cluster Hire, an ongoing effort to recruit faculty whose scholarship focuses on relevant topics and methods. These new faculty teach and conduct research, scholarship, and creative work centered on design justice.

The college recently welcomed the first two members of the cluster, Assistant Professor Ji Youn Shin (Product Design) and Assistant Professor Jessica Garcia Fritz (Architecture).

Learn more at design.umn.edu/justice.

Career Reflections

The end of the 2022 academic year saw the retirement of three of the college’s longstanding faculty leaders: Professor Marilyn DeLong (Apparel Studies), Professor John Koepke (Landscape Architecture), and Professor Becky Yust (Housing Studies). All three served in a variety of roles and had a tremendous impact on students, faculty, staff, and the college. Before departing, each of them reflected on their careers in an interview with the College of Design. Take a peek at some of what they shared and read the full interviews at z.umn.edu/ CDesInterviews.

Marilyn Delong

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I enjoyed teaching all of the classes but the graduate-level classes were my favorite because of the 1:1 relationships that could be formed with students … The design field is in a critical transition based on climate change, the pandemic, and other significant cultural changes. So wherever you land, consider your impact on the future. ”

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Becky Yust

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It’s really hard to do this, but I would tell the faculty to enjoy the ride. Be strategic about what you want to accomplish and try to enjoy the process. Keep playing to your strengths. In school, we try to teach everything to everybody, but the way people are successful in life is by figuring out their strengths and pushing those. ”

Responding to the changing student character keeps faculty dynamic. My goal was to keep students engaged in learning –that’s the common goal across the generations … My advice to faculty is to be comfortable with ambiguity, be open to change to avoid undue stress, and have fun! ”