By Becky Yust, head

One of the deliverables of the University's 2006 Strategic Positioning Taskforce on the College of Design was to recommend the optimal design, structure, and organization of the new college. The taskforce report states:

The organization of the new college requires well-defined programs and departments that foster disciplinary distinction -- structures that facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and responsiveness to change, ... that will advance the college as a leader internationally.

Architecture and Landscape Architecture are autonomous departments and we recommend that they remain so. The disciplines and programs housed in DHA each require a more distinct identity, sufficient autonomy to advance pedagogical and intellectual goals, and greater visibility within and beyond the University.... We recommend that DHA serve as a transitional structure to support the programs it currently houses as they develop plans for future directions.

This spring, the individual disciplines within the Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel (DHA) are planning for the future. The department has functioned well as a federation, with the department identity foremost. We plan to turn this around in the new college. Our ultimate structure will evolve to support disciplinary distinction. This issue of Emerging gives an opportunity to share the main research, teaching, and outreach activities of each discipline. The primary faculty members are also listed. It should be noted that a number of research and outreach initiatives involve faculty from more than one discipline.

Clothing Design faculty and graduate students are expanding opportunities in the Human Dimensioning Laboratory by using a three-dimensional body scanner and a motion capture system to conduct research on the static and dynamic interactions of apparel and the human body. Projects include new methods of sizing for mass-market apparel, improved fit for women with osteoporosis, assessing limb dimensions of amputees, and more. Connections with the Goldstein Museum enhance research and exhibition opportunities of historic costumes, fashion, and technology trends. Undergraduates use a problem-solving, research-based approach to develop clothing designs for a variety of target markets and user groups, addressing both function and aesthetics. Missy Bye, Marilyn DeLong, Sherri Gahring, Karen LaBat

Graphic Design faculty members exhibit their own creative production and artistic expression as well as conduct research in creativity, design history, theory, ethics, learning styles and game-based learning, and design process. Graduate students' emphasis is on visual communication and perception -- how humans communicate, perceive, interpret, and understand visual information -- and the use of interactive design. Undergraduates explore visual communication and learn theoretical and applied aspects of design methods, design theory, creative problem solving, and visual and verbal literacy. Faculty members have curated many exhibitions at the Goldstein. James Boyd-Brent, Sauman Chu, Brad Hokanson, Daniel Jasper, Barbara Martinson, Steven McCarthy, Carol Waldron

Housing Studies research, teaching, and outreach includes the applied and theoretical study of housing policy, residential environmental health, residential technology, and social and economic analyses and their interactions with and effects on individuals, families, and communities in rural, suburban, and urban settings. Undergraduate students take courses in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, public policy, planning, and technology. Students select a concentration of community development and policy, housing technology, management and finance, or special populations. Bill Angell, Marilyn Bruin, Jeff Crump, Becky Yust, Ann Ziebarth

Interior Design faculty members conduct research on the development and analysis of the profession's body of knowledge, history of interiors, learning styles of students, and cultural influences in our living environments. The undergraduate program is accredited at the professional level by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA). Through a lock-step curriculum, students identify, research, and solve design problems of the immediate physical environment through an understanding of human behavior and design. Graduate students, already equipped with a first professional degree, explore specialized areas of research. Denise Guerin, Tasoulla Hadjiyanni, Caren Martin, Stephanie Zollinger

Retail Merchandising research and outreach collaborations have focused on the competitive market of rural retailers and strategies for them to sustain their businesses. Additionally, research on relationships of appearance and the self, non-normative consumption, and interpretive and critical methods of inquiry in textiles and clothing studies are examined. The undergraduate program and the graduate emphasis are in the process of being reconfigured to integrate design perspectives as students study merchandising, marketing, store management, visual merchandising, buying, and sales promotion. Kim Johnson, Gloria Williams