January 27, 2020
New Master of Industrial Design offered at K-State
Kansas State University will offer a new Master of Industrial Design in the College Architecture, Planning & Design, or APDesign. The five-year master's degree will be housed in the interior architecture & product design department.
The new degree was approved by the Kansas Board of Regents at its December 2019 meeting.
"We are tremendously excited to offer this new master's degree in industrial design," said Nathan Howe, head of the interior architecture & product design department. "We crafted a curriculum that will have engineering, art and entrepreneur courses. In using the breadth of what K-State has to offer across campus we are creating a more diverse and well-rounded student ready to grapple with the challenges ahead in designing products for our future."
The degree program is exceptionally diverse with a combination of studies focused on products for the built environment. From spatial experiential design to handheld devices, consumer goods and furniture, students will learn to design at a range of scales. The degree guides students to become stewards of the environment by looking at life cycles and upcycle alternatives to the products they design. The curriculum was developed to create passionate innovators and questioners of the status quo. Industrial design students will have access to the college's award-winning furniture design sequence which is currently only available to students enrolled in the interior architecture program.
The new program has also received approval from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, the accreditation body for industrial design, making this program one of only four in the region offering a degree in this discipline.
"In line with our 21st century land-grant mission, this program serves as a wonderful conduit for engagement of our faculty and students in industry-sponsored research and development, a trajectory long-established in our interior architecture master's program," said Tim de Noble, dean of APDesign. "This industry engagement has opened doors for many of our students, including internships and royalties for commercially-viable products designed in our studios."
For students with questions on the current and new programs offered in the department and college, please email Karina Taufi, director of student recruitment, at ktaufi@k-state.edu.
Students currently enrolled in their first year at APDesign have the opportunity to sequence into this program in fall 2020, while recruiting is underway for additional freshman and transfer students enrolling in fall 2020.