History of the College

The first Landscape Architecture program in the South to apply for accreditation, but failed.

Mrs. Harrye Black Lyons serves as the first design librarian from 1947 to 1968. The Design Library inhabits the space that was the original reading room of D. H. Hill Jr. Library. The library was renamed the Harrye B. Lyons design library shortly after her death in 1968 by Dean Kamphoefner.

Matthew Nowicki serves as the acting architecture department head.

The School of Architecture and Landscape Design was renamed the School of Design in September of 1948. The school first takes residence in the upper floors of 111 Lampe Drive. 

R. Buckminster Fuller is a guest lecturer at the School of Design until 1955. He worked with students to design uses of the geodesic dome for a cotton mill, military installations and the Ford Motor Company. He received an honorary Doctor of Design degree from NC State in 1954. In 1983 he is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.

School graduates the first class with a Bachelor’s in Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

Matthew Nowicki tragically dies in a plane crash.

The first issue of The Student Publication of the School of Design was published as a tribute to Matthew Nowicki. 

View it via the NC State University Libraries’ Rare and Unique Digital Collections

The Landscape Architecture program is accredited.

Elizabeth Bobbitt Lee (1928-2010) becomes the first woman to graduate in Architecture with a bachelor’s degree. Lee served as president of the NC chapter of the American Institute of Architects and was a fellow in the AIA. She also served on the NC State Board of Trustees. 

Edward Shirley wins the 40th Paris Prize in Architecture.

The Catalano House is published in House and Home as “House of the Decade.”

Charles H. Khan, one of the key architects behind Carter-Finley Stadium, joins School of Design faculty.

Austin Baer was appointed full professor and head of the newly created Department of Product Design. Clark Macomber and William J. Baron were appointed full-time faculty. Dr. John Hertzman joins the faculty during Professor Baer’s tenure.

William Warren Edwards (Landscape Architecture) wins the 1958 Dumbarton Oaks Fellowship.

The NC Legislature passes a bill approving the establishment of and funds for the Department of Product Design in the NCSU School of Design. The charge is to “design the products of the State of NC.”

W. Taft Bradshaw (Landscape Architecture) wins the 1959 Dumbarton Oaks Fellowship.

Lloyd G. Walter wins the 47th Paris Prize in Architecture.

Richard Saul Wurman serves on the faculty until 1962. Wurman is an American architect and graphic designer and creator of TEDTalks.

Victor Papanek succeeds Professor Baer as department head of product design. Papanek is the author of Design for the Real World (1971), a go-to reference in the discourse on designing for the pluriverse.

Dr. Walter Baermann appointed head of the Department of Product Design, succeeding Victor Papanek. Armand Cooke, Vincent Foote, and Harry Mackie were appointed to the faculty in product design. 

Product designer Vincent M. Foote joins the School of Design faculty. He would go on to serve the department of Product Design (later known as Industrial Design) for over 40 years.

2nd Alcoa Student Competition held.

The first Visual Design studio is taught. The first project was a poster for the School of Design Student Publication art auction, with Gerald L. Eckstein creating the winning design. 

Robert Burns is appointed Achitecture department head.

M. Sally Schauman is the first woman to graduate from Landscape Architecture.

Kenneth Moffett wins the 55th Lloyd Warren Fellowship Paris Prize in Architecture.

Richard R. Wilkinson is appointed the department head of Landscape Architecture.

Department of Architecture establishes the Urban Design Program as a joint academic program with the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The School takes over space in Leazar Hall for basic design studios.

The Master of Urban Design degree is approved.

Arthur J. Clement, the First African American to graduate from the School of Design, graduates with a Bachelor of Architecture. He is a retired First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Over the past twenty years, Art has completed numerous campus heritage studies. Mr. Clement currently serves on the advisory committee for the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s HBCU Cultural Heritage Stewardship Initiative. He also served on the board of trustees for the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.

In May of 1971, the first degrees in Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture and Bachelor of Environmental Design in Landscape Architecture are offered. Students graduating in May of 1971 were able to graduate with these degrees from a program that had been developing over the past three years.

The Bachelor of Architecture is phased out.

Vincent Foote serves as interim head of the Department. Minors in Visual Design, Furniture Design. 

Richard Curtis graduates from the college with a Bachelor of Product Design. He would go to become one of three founders of USA Today and serve on the NC State Board of Trustees. He is known for infographics — especially the weather map — that established newspaper graphics worldwide. He also worked with technology companies in developing the “electronic darkroom” that made it possible to send photographs from around the world for the production of a daily newspaper. 

Claude E. McKinney is appointed dean of the School of Design. He would go on to distance the school from traditional departmental structures and emphasize interdisciplinary study through a series of shared core courses. He would later oversee the construction of NC State’s Centennial Campus.

Armco Steel Corporation sponsors student design program.

Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) approves Department.  

Henry Sanoff receives the Progressive Architecture Design Awards Program in 1974, 1978 and 1983.

John Loss is appointed program director for Architecture.

Arthur L. Sullivan is appointed as program director of Landscape Architecture

Linda Sanders serves as the interim program director of Architecture.

Martin Harms is appointed the Architecture program director.

Austin Lowrey is hired to establish the visual design program as a separate undergraduate curriculum within the Product Design department. Studio and core courses in graphic design are established.

The Bachelor of Architecture program is re-established.

“Department Head” title was restored, following the change to “Program Director” in 1973.

Wolfgang Weingart makes the first of several visits to the school.

Harwell Hamilton Harris receives an honorary doctorate of fine arts from NC State University.

Haig Khachatoorian appointed Department Head of Product Design.

Deborah W. Dalton is appointed acting department head of Landscape Architecture.

The Product Innovation Lab (PIL) was originally co-founded by Professor Haig Khachatoorian (Design), Dr. Mitzi Montoya-Weiss (Management), and Dr. Clare Maday (Engineering) in 1987, and was active until 2016. This was a graduate-level project course conducted with student teams comprising Industrial Design (ID), Marketing (MBA) and Mechanical Engineering (ME) disciplines. The course ran over 20+ years and served the sponsors…citizens of North Carolina, as well as Fortune 500 / 100 level sponsor companies.

Caroline Carlton is the newly appointed design librarian.

J. Thomas Regan becomes dean of the School of Design and would serve until 1994.

Arthur R. Rice is appointed as Landscape Architecture department head.

The Department of Product and Visual Design splits into two separate departments with new names: Industrial Design and Graphic Design. Previously, the degrees both fell under Product Design, and with this split, each program maintained a separate degree title. Visual Design Program Coordinator Meredith Davis becomes head of the Department of Graphic Design, and Haig Katchatoorian remains department head of Industrial Design.

Meredith Davis becomes the head of the Department of Graphic Design. She serves in the position until 1997. Davis is the author of Design as a Catalyst for Learning (1997), Design in Context: Graphic Design Theory (2012), Teaching Design (2017), Introduction to Visual Communication Design (2017) and The Future of Design Education (expected June 2023).

Christos Saccopoulos is appointed the Architecture department head.

The School of Design hosts the Graphic Design Education Association (GDEA) national conference.

The Architecture department hosts the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Southeast regional meeting.

The Coalition for Community Conservation is established as a joint venture between the Department of Landscape Architecture and the Conservation Trust of North Carolina.

A new graduate curriculum in graphic design is developed. Five graphic design graduate students win awards in Aldus flashpoint competition. 

Marvin J. Malecha (1949-2020) becomes dean of the School of Design and would serve in the role until 2015.

Robert Burns becomes an ASCA distinguished professor.

Anne Burdick guest edits two issues of Emigre magazine.

School of Design promotional materials, designed by graduate students, are accepted into the American Center for Design 100 show. 

Robert Burns is the Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal Recipient.

Meredith Davis designs an identity program for NC State University.

Fatih Rifki is appointed the Architecture department head.

The Department of Landscape Architecture co-hosts The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) Annual Conference in Asheville, NC.

NC State awards the first AIGA Medallion of Design Excellence to Michael Faoro (BGD).

Alicia Chastain (BGD) designs Reflections and Actions, written by Robert Burns.

Andrew Blauvelt becomes the head of the department of Graphic Design and serves in the position for one year. He wins the AIGA medal in 2022.

Department of Design and Technology reverts to the Department of Industrial Design and the Department of Art + Design.

The School of Design hosts a joint meeting of the European Association of Architecture Educators and the Architecture Research Centers Consortium.

Meredith Davis serves as the department head of Graphic Design from 1999-2002 while a national search is conducted.

Martha Scotford publishes Cipe Pineles: A Life of Design, one of the first monographs on an American woman graphic designer. Martha is one of the earliest graphic design historians in a field that hadn’t published a comprehensive history until 1983.

The Natural Learning Initiative (NLI) is founded by Robin Moore and Nilda Cosco with the purpose of promoting the importance of the natural environment. The lab studies the impacts of play, outdoor learning, and environmental education on the daily experiences of children.

The Bachelor of Graphic Design and Master of Graphic Design programs are first accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, one of only a few single program accreditations by NASAD. Meredith Davis did significant work to contribute to the program’s successful accreditation.

Denise Gonzales Crisp joins the faculty and becomes department head of Graphic Design after a national search. She serves in the position until 2006. She remains on the faculty until 2022.

Henry Sanoff writes Three Decades of Design and Community in 2003. The book presents analytical descriptions of the work of many graduates of CDG program/NCSU under Henry Sanoff’s guidance, and sets an example of how service learning and outreach and programs can benefit the surrounding communities, and can be incorporated into studio pedagogy.

Santiago Piedrafita Becomes Head of the Graphic Design Department. When the Graphic Design and Industrial Design departments merge in 2009, he becomes head of the new department.

The Department of Industrial Design and the Department of Graphic Design combine into the Department of Graphic Design and Industrial Design.

The College of Design launches its award-winning Design + Build programs in Architecture and Landscape Architecture, training students to adapt to every part of the design-make-design cycle.

Tsai Lu Liu joins the Industrial Design faculty and is appointed as Head of the Department of Graphic Design and Industrial Design

The Coastal Dynamics Design Lab (CDDL) is founded with a mission to organize and lead trans-disciplinary research and design teams to address critical ecological and community development challenges in vulnerable coastal regions and shoreline communities.

The Visual Narrative Initiative is founded, opening research pathways in image analytics, design of interactive digital experiences, data visualization, digital history and computational media.

The Doctor of Design (DDes) degree program is formed as a complement to the existing Ph.D. in Design program. It is the only program of its kind in the country that offers blended learning (online + on campus) in design research aimed at applications in practice.

Wayne Place’s studio, titled “Airports of the Future,” premieres at the Venice Biennale. The studio won The Architecture University Project Award 2018 for its contribution to research, for highlighting the significance of airport space, and for valuing the experiential journey.

The Department of Landscape Architecture changes its name to the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning to reflect the growing focus on environmental planning processes, methods and practices. The department also expanded its curriculum to offer an interdisciplinary certificate program, the Graduate Certificate in Disaster Resilient Policy, Engineering and Design. The program aims to educate the next generation of practitioners and scholars to reduce the rise in disaster losses and assist communities to adapt to a changing climate.

The Design Center at 111 Lampe Drive finishes its first phase of renovations, marking the shift of the college’s industrial design program into its new 15,000-square-foot home.

The Department of Art + Design changes its name to Media Arts, Design, and Technology. The change signifies a shift in industry demands and technical skills taught at the college including animation, virtual reality and augmented reality design, and video game design.