CDes MEMO Archives

A bi-weekly electronic newsletter for the faculty and staff of the College of Design.

The deadline for submissions is noon on Wednesday prior to Thursday of publication. Send submissions to Michael Fraase <mfraase@umn.edu>. The next issue comes out September 28.

Read CDes Memo online on the College of Design Web site.

May 17, 2007

Editor: Michael Fraase, mfraase@umn.edu

Next two weeks

May 31, 5:30-8:30 p.m., McNeal Hall
Thirty Years of The Goldstein
The Goldstein Museum's Annual Meeting and 30th Anniversary Celebration, presented by Friends of the Goldstein. Tickets $40, RSVP by May 23 on the Goldstein Museum Web site or 612-624-7434. Savor wine and hors d'oeuvres alfresco while perusing a spectacular silent auction. Take in a special presentation from Pioneer Press style editor Allison Kaplan and her KM107 Radio co-host Harmony Kaplan. Bid on items in a limited live auction, including a trip to Fashion Week in New York.

News and announcements

Want to stay in touch with important CDes announcements? Consider setting your Web browser's home page to the College of Design Announcements page. It's updated frequently between issues of CDes MEMO.

CDes MEMO survey
CDes MEMO is a biweekly e-mail newsletter sent to faculty and staff. As we near the end of our first year of publication we would like to get your input. Please take this five-minute survey.

Spring 2007 commencement
Images from Spring 2007 commencement, May 12, 2007.

CDes in the media

The following CDes activities and expertise have been featured in the media. Contact Laura Weber, communications director, at l-webe@umn.edu if you have news to promote through the media.

"Editorial: Design emphasis shifts to public space" by Staff, Star Tribune, May 3, 2007
Last week's "Design and Its Publics" conference at the University of Minnesota brought some critical minds down upon the Twin Cities' latest spurt of architectural expression, especially the Guthrie Theater, Walker Art Center, and Central Library projects.

"Design goes over our heads" by Linda Mack, Star Tribune, May 3, 2007 (scroll to fourth item)
The design world has trouble connecting with its public with poorly staged events like "Design and Its Publics."

"U of M students unveil prototype aimed at saving lives of disaster victims" by Staff, KSTP-TV, May 3, 2007
University of Minnesota College of Design students unveiled a structure that could be the answer to the power, water, shelter, and sanitation needs of people struck by disasters.

"Architecture students build 'hub' for disaster relief" by Staff, Minnesota Daily, May 4, 2007
Take one part design know-how, add a pinch of youthful idealism, some donated materials, and a whole lot of creativity, and you've got yourself a recipe for disaster -- relief.

"Homestyle calendar May 9-15" by Staff, Star Tribune, May 8, 2007
Calendar of events includes notice of the "Stuffed and Mounted" exhibit.

"The new U of M Bell Museum" by Mary Jane Smetanka, Star Tribune, May 10, 2007
The U has tentatively identified the building [the current Bell Museum], which will need renovation, as a future home for its College of Design.

"Homefront: News for your life" by Joyce Rosencrans, Cincinnati Post, May 12, 2007
The Professional Awning Manufacturers Association funded an energy-savings study by the Center for Sustainable Building Research at the University of Minnesota. Most U.S. residential neighborhoods don't have a significant number of window awnings, unlike Europe where awnings are used to reduce air conditioning use in the summer.

Congratulations and kudos

Marilyn Bruin (DHA) was elected to the Emerging Markets Homeownership Initiatives board of directors.

Nick Potts (M.Arch 2005) won the national competition for the Rapson Traveling Prize.

President's Emerging Leaders (PEL) for 2007-08 from the College of Design are Charleen Klarquist (DHA), Virajita Singh (Center for Sustainable Building Research), Julie VanSteenbergen (DHA), and Jodie Walz (Digital Collections and Archives). The PEL program provides a structured but flexible leadership development opportunity for high potential P&A, civil service, and bargaining unit staff across the University. More information is available.

Barbara Otto's (DHA) art quilt, "Conflagration Series#2, the Firebombing of Dresden," will be exibited May 26-September 2 in the Quilt National 2007 exhibition at the Dairy Barn Cultural Center in Athens, Ohio. A companion book is being published by Lark Books. An earlier whole cloth art quilt, "Space: Grains of Sand," was published in Art Quilts: a Celebration (Lark Books, 2005).

A study abroad proposal submitted by Virajita Singh (Center for Sustainable Building Research) will be offered as a global seminar by the Learning Abroad Center during winter break 2007-08. Students from diverse disciplines across the University will spend three weeks in northern India in a design immersion experience focused on ecological approaches to design, sacred spaces, and a design-build project to meet the needs of a local community.

On May 1st, Kate Daly's (DHA) 5215 Product Development Softlines students unveiled team PowerPoint presentations/boards of their designs for the men's Hat Zone area of Target. The presentation at Target was a semester-long collaborative project between the class and Target which included weekly presentations by Target. Teams of four to five students not only presented their product line development and market research but also sourcing, costing, end use wear, and floor pad layout for the Hat Zone. The Target panel of judges awarded the winning team members each a $250 Target gift certificate. The winning team members were Allison Quinnell, Michele Carlson, Theresa Lastovich, Katelyn Parish, and Franchesca Rojas-Zelenka.

In May, Leslie Van Duzer (Architecture) is serving on an international jury for the annual Berkeley Prize Travel Fellowship, an international essay competition for undergraduate architecture students. The competition themes each year are based on the principle that architecture is a social art. The top finalists in the essay competition -- which annually draws hundreds of submissions from around the world -- are invited to apply for a travel fellowship to attend the annual Global Studio where students, academics, and professionals from around the world gather to assist in addressing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Brad Hokanson (DHA) will be leading a global seminar of 17 University students to Buenos Aires, Argentina. The trip is sponsored by the Learning Abroad Center of the University in conjunction with the International Exchange of Scholars. The trip has both a wiki and an image library.

Ann Ziebarth (DHA) and Jennifer Gunn (History of Medicine) have received funding from the College of Design eScholarship program to develop a Web section for their upcoming fall seminar: Linking Rural Housing & Health. The Web section will connect students from the College of Design and the Medical School as well as provide a link to health and housing professionals in greater Minnesota.

Janet Abrams (Design Institute) and Virajita Singh (Center for Sustainable Building Research) were awarded an e-scholarship grant for their project "e-Sustainability: Interactive Mapping of Sustainable Activities at the College of Design." The other investigators on the project are Christopher Baker (MFA candidate, Art), Richard Strong (Center for Sustainable Design) and Peter Hall (Design Institute).

Scott Christensen (Design Institute) attended the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) midwest district conference in Kohler, WI to gather input from leading design practitioners regarding the college's ongoing product design program development, and to market the ongoing search for faculty to lead the program. This fall, Christensen will teach a new interdisciplinary design minor course: Design Magic (DESI 3120) which will explore design as it relates to human perceptions of limits and what is impossible.

Karen LaBat (DHA), Marilyn DeLong (associate dean) and Missy Bye (DHA) were guests of Michael Alexin, Target vice president for product design and development, to attend the Carlson School 21st Century dinner. Alexin was the keynote speaker, presenting the topic "The Philosophy and Practice of Innovation."

Presentations

Marilyn Bruin (DHA) presented a paper written with Sarah Bellefuil (DHA), "Hmong in Public Housing: Fit or Fantasy?" at the Urban Affairs Association annual conference, April 26 in Seattle, Washington.

Laura Weber (Communications) was a panel member for "Keeping it Real: Editing University Magazines," at the annual conference of the University of Minnesota Communicators Forum on May 2, 2007.

Dewey Thorbeck (Center for Rural Design) has been invited to make a presentation at the World Future Society meeting in Minneapolis on July 30, 2007. He will be speaking on "Rural Design: a new discipline." The presentation will illustrate recent projects where the Center is assisting rural communities to create a community-based land-use vision for their futures and for the state as a model that can be used around the world.

Barbara Porwit (Goldstein Museum) has a few pieces in a group art show at the Lake Harriet Spiritual Community, 4401 Upton Ave. South, Minneapolis. An opening reception is scheduled from 7-10 p.m., Saturday May 19.

Two architecture students presented final projects from spring semester's directed study course advised by Virajita Singh (Center for Sustainable Building Research) on greening the college to CDes administrative staff. Christen Gard's project focused on instituting green purchasing and Juan Vergara's project focused on instituting a pilot organic waste collection program for composting in Rapson Hall. Gard will continue her research this summer as part of a UROP grant she received.

Tasoulla Hadjiyanni (DHA), Jain Kwon (Ph.D. Interior Design emphasis), and Nathan Burt (M.Arch) will be presenting the paper "Considering surveillance -- sustainability, security cameras, and the design fields" at the upcoming Environmental Design Research Association 38 conference in Sacramento, May 30-June 3, 2007. Hadjiyanni and Kristin Helle (MFA) will also be presenting "Culture and sustainability -- Ojibwe housing needs and aspirations."

Future events

June 19, 6:30 p.m., McNeal Hall
How Housing Matters: Towards Evidence-based Design Practice in Affordable Housing lecture
Sherry Ahrentzen, associate director of research at the Stardust Foundation Center for Affordable Housing and the Family.

June 19-20, Continuing Education and Conference Center
Minnesota Affordable Housing: Celebrating, Designing, Innovating for the Future symposium
Participants will explore policies, activities, and designs related to the development of affordable housing. Contact Anne Schultz schultz@umn.edu for registration information. More information is available online.

July 10-14, Open Book, 1011 Washington Avenue South and McNamara Alumni Center
SHARP Book History Conference
Co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota McKnight Arts and Humanities Endowment. The events are part of the annual meeting of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing (SHARP). An international organization with more than a thousand members, SHARP was founded in 1991 to advance the study of book history and print and manuscript culture. The preliminary program for this conference and additional information are available online. If you have questions, contact Michael Hancher, mh@umn.edu, or Heather Dorr, hdorr@umn.edu.

July 30-August 3, Rapson Hall
Design Camp
Design Camp, hosted by the Design Institute, introduces teens ages 14-17 to design through a series of workshops led by professional designers and U of M faculty, assisted by College of Design graduate and undergraduate students. This year's theme is "Retool your School." Workshops include: schooling, gearing, parading, gaming, telling, and sporting. Instructors are: John Comazzi (Architecture) and Anselmo Canfora, Scott Christensen (Design Institute) and Svenja Leggewie, Tania Bowers and Robin Richman, Katie Salen and Eric Socolofsky, Daniel Jasper (DHA), Reik Sijbring, and Femke Snelting. Check out the Design Institute Web site for more information and to download a registration form.

Colophon

CDes MEMO is published by the College of Design at the University of Minnesota bi-weekly, every other Thursday, September through May, on the Web. Please send comments, questions, or submissions to Michael Fraase, mfraase@umn.edu.

Submissions are due by noon Wednesday prior to Thursday publication. Spring semester publication dates are: January 25, February 8, February 22, March 8, March 22, April 5, April 19, and May 3.

This e-mail was sent by: University of Minnesota, College of Design. 32 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA.