Board approves design programs
Design thinking for innovation, a product of the longest-running study abroad program at USU, received approval by the Board of Trustees on Friday to become one of two new certificate programs offered by the university.
“This is a very exciting program that brings together two of our academic units on campus,” said USU Provost Raymond Coward, “the Caine College of the Arts and the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.”
Professor Bob Winward of the Caine College of the Arts developed a successful study abroad program that focused on graphic design said business professor Chris Fawson. The program – now in its 10th year – inspired a more creative approach to the business end of product design and marketing.
Leysin, Switzerland, provides the setting for the five-week program which was a “buffet” of courses, said art major Jeremy Wilkins, that focus on concepts including human-centered design. He said this method focuses on designing things with the user in mind.
“Last year we piloted the notion of changing the focus to more design thinking,” Fawson said, “which is really a mash-up between business methods and processes with the processes of creativity and innovation that are embedded in the way a designer approaches challenges.”
Design thinking is simply a way of approaching various business-related problem solving situations in a way that will make professionals more proficient, said professor Chris Terry of the Caine College of the Arts. The certificate will verify on paper that students completed the program, he said. He said it’s the course of study that will enable them to be more innovative.
Wilkins was one of several art students who attended the pilot program last year. Fawson said this year the roster is already full with 20 art and 20 business students waiting their turn to board a plane to Switzerland. He said last year all of the students who went gave positive feedback.
“I was skeptical just because art students use one side of their brain, generally speaking, and business students use the other side,” Wilkins said. “I was really interested to see how everybody was going to get along. We were all able to learn things that we wouldn’t have otherwise, because each of us taught each other.”
Wilkins said he and his peers were aware that, if successful, the program could be approved for a 12-credit certificate in design thinking. He said it was exciting to see everything come together the way it did, especially with the two colleges working together well.
The area of design thinking is very current and becoming mainstream, Terry said. He said there are only a few schools in North America with similar curricula, including the University of Toronto and Stanford University.
“As the world flattens out,” said Dean Doug Andersen of the business school, “and our competition takes over some of the key areas that have been sources of competitive edge for the United States, we have to look to new sources of competitive advantage.”
Terry said he believes the design thinking program will be a big draw for future prospective students, which will help to advance USU President Stan Albrecht’s initiative to increase enrollment. He said another advantage is that it requires no additional university funding. All money comes from what students would already pay for a standard study abroad.
This is just the beginning, Fawson said. In the future, there are several other ideas that could expand the amount of course options and opportunities for students both on-campus and abroad. The Switzerland study abroad program for design thinking is largely an undergraduate curriculum, he said.
“I think we see our strategic niche in undergraduate education,” Fawson said. “Certainly graduate students are involved. In the summer program this year, for example, out of the 20 business students going, six or seven of them are MBA students.”
The other certification program approved by the Board of Trustees comes from USU’s rehabilitation counseling program, which generates from the department of special education and rehabilitation. Coward said he wanted to brag that this program was recently designated No. 9 in the nation, according to “U.S. News and World Report.”
This certificate program is intended to increase the number of certified rehabilitation counselors, said dean of the education college, Beth Foley. People who have master’s degrees or other advanced degrees in related fields, like social work and marriage counseling will be able to become certified as counselors for people with a range of disabilities.
“That interdisciplinary aspect of this program is, I think, what makes it particularly strong,” Foley said. “Many of these courses that will provide the basis of this program are available by distance. So we’ll be able to offer these opportunities not just to people here in Utah, but people across the country.”
– dan.whitney.smith@aggiemail.usu.edu