College of Design
Accreditation: Accreditation standards and regular external reviews have provided the formal structure and system of accountability for stimulating improvement. Six of the degree programs in the college are accredited professional programs. Outcomes assessment is an integral part of the process in presenting the curricula and student work to the four accrediting bodies via self-study reports and site visits.
Study Abroad: Providing students with study abroad opportunities has long been a priority in the College of Design. Of the seven colleges that comprise Iowa State University, the College of Design sends the most students abroad each year. Destinations range from Mexico to China, the Pacific Rim to the Czech Republic, but the majority participate in the Rome Program. Since 1991, over 1500 students have participated in this flagship international program, and approximately 900 have participated in other study abroad options. It is our obligation to provide students with the best study abroad opportunities possible. Therefore, in May 2008 we completed our first International Programs Report to assess our programs. This report includes peer comparisons and a complete history of the college's programs.
Placement: In a survey of 2006-2007 bachelor degree recipients conducted six months after graduation, 86% were either employed or pursuing further education. This placement rate is the lowest of the past 10 years, due to a changing economy and a change in reporting processes, (from direct emails and phones to ISU Career Management System).
Student Engagement:
- Learning Communities: Beginning fall 2008, 100% of Design's new undergraduate students will participate in a learning community, 100 of them in the Design Exchange, our residential learning community, and the remaining 450+ in the Design Collaborative, the non-residential learning community.
- Internships: All undergraduate landscape architecture students participate in the signature Savanna Traveling studio learning community their sophomore year, and undertake a semester-long internship, national student exchange, or international student exchange during the fourth year of the curriculum. All interior design students must complete a summer internship prior to graduation. Approximately 75% of graphic design, architecture and planning students complete internships prior to graduation.
- Experiential Learning: Outreach and/or design/build studios are conducted in each of the degree programs: Students from all majors participate in service learning, working with communities ranging from Ames to South Sioux City to Mali, Africa. Undergraduate students participate in many of the outreach programs of the college, including the PLaCE Program and other extension-related studios. Undergraduate students also work with faculty on various research projects, including the Solar Decathlon sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, for which a multi-disciplinary team of faculty and students is designing, building, and operating an energy-efficient solar-powered home.
- Interdisciplinary Education: Each year, approximately 55% of our graduating seniors enroll in interdisciplinary design studios.
Reviewing Outcomes:
- The College of Design and its departments employ the regular use of student outcomes assessment to evaluate and guide changes in curricular offerings and structure. The establishment of curricular goals, assessment of those goals, and development of plans for improvement have been part of the College of Design since its inception.
- Student learning is rigorously assessed during the enrollment management process between completion of the Core Design Program and the professional degree programs. In 2008-2009, the college will formally assess the Core Design Program.
- The nature of studio pedagogy results in constant observation and evaluation of student work (outcomes) by a broad sector of the faculty and visiting professionals via public reviews and exhibitions of that work. Students consistently are involved in assessment of their learning through reflection and self-critique of this same work. As such, the assessment of student outcomes is an extension of the studio pedagogy of the college.
- Assessment that occurs in concert with strategic planning and catalog revisions and by departmental advisory boards provides additional layers of informal review to stimulate positive change.
- The college's undergraduate programs in architecture and landscape architecture, and its graduate programs in interior design and architecture, are ranked in the top 20 such programs nationwide, according to a survey by DesignIntelligence (November 2007), a bimonthly publication for leaders in design professions. Our undergraduate landscape architecture program tied with Ohio State University for eighth place in the survey (up from 15th last year). Our undergraduate architecture program is ranked 14th, while the graduate program tied for 18th place with Texas A&M University, the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and the University of Pennsylvania. The undergraduate architecture program has been ranked in the top 15 nationally for the past five years. Our graduate interior design program tied for 15th place with the New York School of Interior Design.
