Personal Reflections from the College’s History
Browse through personal reflections from the College of Design’s History. Want to share your own? Submit a written or oral history using the link below.
1950s
Frank H. Smith, III, AIA – B.Arch ’55
“My interest in architecture began at an early age in part because my uncle was an architect (G. K. Smith, FAIA). My step-father was a professor at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, so after graduating from Norman High School in the fall of 1945 I enrolled in the architectural department of the University of Oklahoma in the spring of 1946. Here I first met Dean Henry Kamphoefner, Bruce Goff, Duncan Stewart, Terry Waugh, George Matsumoto, Jim Fitzgibbon, etc. (Some years later Jim Fitzgibbon designed my parents’ home (the Quonset house) in Knoxville, TN.) Still considering architecture I spent a..Read more
Jesse J. Peterson, Jr., FAIA – B.Arch ’59
“Enrollment at North Carolina State College in 1954 required only an application, a High School diploma, and payment of a small fee. All NC residents meeting those requirements were accepted. Portfolios and interviews were not expected. In 1954, the North Carolina State College enrollment included 4,500 students. 125 were women. The name was changed to North Carolina State University in 1965. The School of Design became the College of Design in 2000, this name change upsetting many Alumni. Freshman and Sophomore Years The school year started with 90 Freshmen enrolling in Architecture or Landscape Architecture. 1954 was the last class..Read more
1960s
1970s
P. Lyn Middleton – MPD ’76
I applied to School of Design and became one of the first students in Visual Design graduate program in 1974. I was nervous, me a graduate student ? However, I soon became so inspired. Tad Takano was a visiting professor from Chicago and was a valuable teacher my first year, and Vince Foote head of the program who badgered all of us with ” What is the design process? ” I had classes from George Bireline, Joe Cox, Dick Wilkinson, Bill Bayley and Carolyn Nelson. I was in heaven with all of it, many hours at the school night and..Read more
Michael Segal – Landscape Architecture ’76
My instructor in Basic Design, Ray Musselwhite, asked me this question one day in our studio while looking at some drawings of my design. Ray asked, ”What else can it be?” This was the most meaningful moment in my education at the school.
1980s
P. Lyn Middleton – MPD ’76
I applied to School of Design and became one of the first students in Visual Design graduate program in 1974. I was nervous, me a graduate student ? However, I soon became so inspired. Tad Takano was a visiting professor from Chicago and was a valuable teacher my first year, and Vince Foote head of the program who badgered all of us with ” What is the design process? ” I had classes from George Bireline, Joe Cox, Dick Wilkinson, Bill Bayley and Carolyn Nelson. I was in heaven with all of it, many hours at the school night and..Read more
Bruce Tolbert – BEDA ’82, B.Arch ’83
As an architecture student, one of my most memorable and valuable design studio experiences was one I took during my Junior year, under a former College of Design architecture professor, Spencer Wolfe. We had a semester-long project to design a community center for a site in downtown Durham, NC. Professor Wolfe gave us the option of working with a team and I worked on this project with 2 fellow studio friends. I recall going home to visit my family for the Thanksgiving holiday during that semester but cut my vacation short to return to NC State to work on “the..Read more
George Nicholos – BEDA ’82
Aside from 4 years of experiences which provide me with a unique understanding of the built world, one experience stands out. In my senior year in the architecture program, I volunteered to assist with interviews of prospective design school applicants. I was paired with another student and Professor George Bireline. We would interview prospective students then submit our recommendations. It was both tedious and fascinating. After a long day of interviews, the next applicant to be interviewed was a young innocent looking male high school senior appearing anxious and excited, probably just the way I looked just four years earlier...Read more
Bonny Mendenhall Calloway – Product Design + Textile Design ’85
I was working on my Master’s in Product Design with a concentration in Textile Design, so at that time I had to walk from one end of campus, (The Design College) to the Nelson Textile building which was on the other end of the campus 2 to 3 times a day! This was before the Centennial Campus was complete. I do not remember sleeping for 2 1/2 years! Seriously. I cherish those years though because I was pushed beyond what I thought that I could do creatively. Also, at graduation, I was so surprised to receive an International award-Prince Philip..Read more
Haig Khachatoorian
The Product Innovation Lab (PIL) was originally co-founded by Professor Haig Khachatoorian (Design), Dr. Mitzi Montoya-Weiss (Management), and Dr. Clare Maday (Engineering). 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. During this more than two decades of research, design development, prototyping and marketing strategies for each problem statement accepted by PIL, the course evolved to include faculty and students from Textiles Engineering (TE), Electrical..Read more
Tim Kirkman – BEDV ’90
There are so many moments at the College of Design that have affected my life in positive ways. Just to name a few: graphic design professor P. Lyn Middleton’s summer studio during which I learned the powerful design (and life) lesson that “parameters give you freedom”; Margaret Sartor exposed me to artists in her photography classes that still inspire and challenge me, but I’ll never forget the day she shared the work of David Goldblatt, which introduced me (shamefully, for the first time) to the horrors of Apartheid; the afternoon the divine Bill Bayley dusted off a spring-wound 16mm camera..Read more
1990s
Haig Khachatoorian
The Product Innovation Lab (PIL) was originally co-founded by Professor Haig Khachatoorian (Design), Dr. Mitzi Montoya-Weiss (Management), and Dr. Clare Maday (Engineering). 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. During this more than two decades of research, design development, prototyping and marketing strategies for each problem statement accepted by PIL, the course evolved to include faculty and students from Textiles Engineering (TE), Electrical..Read more
Leighton Beaman – BEDA ’98, B.Arch ’99
I remember my first year in foundations studios where we were asked to make orthographic drawings of polyhedra, axonometric drawings of polydehdra, diagrams or polydehra, castings or polyhedra, mathmatical descriptions of polyhedra, stencils of polyhedra, polyhedra out of wood, polyhedra out of metal, polyhedra out of plastic, and polyhedra out of cloth. Despite the deceptively simple nature of these assignments, I learned more about what one must consider when making design decisions, communicating information, and fabricating objects than in any other class I ever took at NCSU or later in graduate school. I still have most of these objects. I..Read more
Rodrigo Letonja – BEDA ’95, B.Arch ’96
Skittles, Selby sandwiches, gluing my fingers together.
2000s
Haig Khachatoorian
The Product Innovation Lab (PIL) was originally co-founded by Professor Haig Khachatoorian (Design), Dr. Mitzi Montoya-Weiss (Management), and Dr. Clare Maday (Engineering). 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. During this more than two decades of research, design development, prototyping and marketing strategies for each problem statement accepted by PIL, the course evolved to include faculty and students from Textiles Engineering (TE), Electrical..Read more
Allison Harris – BEDA ’07, B.Arch. ’08
I met my husband on the very first day of freshman year, at the new student ice cream social. We officially started dating at the Design Bash sophomore year, then got engaged in the rotunda spring of our junior year. 15 years married this May, we’re a College of Design love story!
Demarcus Williams – Graphic Design ’03
During my tenure at the NC State College of Design I was impacted by several women who impacted my experience. Mrs. Marva Motley was like a mother to me and the black students in the College of Design. I spent many days in her office where he she helped me to navigate through the personal, social and academic adjustments that I needed to make in order to graduate. The administrative staff at that time, Ms. Delsey Avery and Cheryl Eatmon were also very nurturing and were always available to provide assistance when I needed them. On the faculty side, I..Read more
2010s
Haig Khachatoorian
The Product Innovation Lab (PIL) was originally co-founded by Professor Haig Khachatoorian (Design), Dr. Mitzi Montoya-Weiss (Management), and Dr. Clare Maday (Engineering). 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. During this more than two decades of research, design development, prototyping and marketing strategies for each problem statement accepted by PIL, the course evolved to include faculty and students from Textiles Engineering (TE), Electrical..Read more
Brandon Dupree – BLA ’16
[2012] The annual Free Expression Tunnel painting by Design Council with freshmen and their mentors. The tunnel was spiraled with black, red and white!
Jennifer Peavey – MID ’16
Jennifer Peavey [MID ’16] shares her recollections of working with Sharon Joines in her REDlab. The summer of 2014 was a pivotal summer for the RED (Research in Ergonomics and Design) Lab and Jennifer Peavey. This was her chance to learn about design research. The project produced a prototype human body simulator for collecting data on shoulder injuries of ultrasonic technicians. The results inspired Hanes to sponsor projects on torso simulators for testing sports bras. At the same time, the REDLab was remodeled to be more agile for changing times, which led to sponsored research on work and collaboration. In..Read more
Brandon Dupree – BLA ’16
[2016] A quick selfie of part of the last undergraduate class of Landscape Architecture! We were such a tight-knit group!
Brian Vaughn – MLA [Current Student]
The bus ride from Chapel Hill to Hillsborough St at the Belltower is forty minutes of rumbling, bumpy discomfort. I know it well–every day for two semesters of my senior year at UNC, I moonlighted as a landscape architecture student here at NC State, under the tutelage of Fernando Magallanes. One of those days–a crisp late October Tuesday, stands out most clearly. I had emailed Gene Bressler, FASLA, then the Department Head of Landscape Architecture, asking him if he’d deign to meet with me for 30 minutes to discuss my goals and aspirations. He, as he’s known to do, enthusiastically..Read more
2020s
Megan Brown – 2022
[2022] This photo was from when I and the co-Director Emma decided to get the word out about Art2Wear during Packapalooza. We had lots of fun telling other students about how to get involved!
