Jul 15, 2024
Following several major grants awarded to the College of Design by the NC State University Foundation, the First Year Experience has blossomed into a program that integrates wellness and mental health awareness into an interdisciplinary design curriculum. The College of Design is a very close-knit community, and most of the first year involves practicing intellectual risk-taking through studio-based learning. The wellness-informed curriculum was created because the freshman experience in design bridges the vast threshold or transition between high school and college where students are expected to routinely fail and subsequently grow through trial and error.
Oct 13, 2023
This year's First Year Experience Paper project was all about connection - the connections we make with others, with our surroundings, and with ourselves. First-year students in the College of Design were tasked with creating a wearable or inhabitable structure that examines how we related to one another. Pieces created by the students were meant to raise awareness of interpersonal relationships in new and nuance ways, and were primarily constructed using paper or fiber with minimal fasteners, adhesives or support.
Jul 28, 2020
Susan Margaret Toplikar, passionate teacher, gifted artist, and dedicated community-arts activist, passed away July 20, 2020, from complications associated with Parkinson's disease.