Academics

Curriculum and Courses

The structure of the DDes program allows design professionals to complete the degree program through distance education. Students have an opportunity to work on interdisciplinary courses and individual research projects remotely while continuing to fulfill professional and personal obligations if and as necessary.

The Doctor of Design program comprises a 54-credit learning sequence tailored for the pursuit of original design-based investigations. Other requirements include the preliminary comprehensive exam (comps), the final exam (defense), and a final research product (dissertation).

Similar to the Ph.D. in Design program, the DDes program introduces research design and its methods in the first year. Required online coursework is typically completed in the first two years; students then delve deeply into independent inquiry. Full-time students craft a detailed design research proposal and prepare for the preliminary exam during the second year. The remainder of the program is dedicated to original investigation towards the final dissertation or equivalent alternative product in design research.

Students work closely with an individual mentor and are guided by supporting committee members with varied expertise. Doctoral programs require a minimum of four (4) graduate faculty members, including the graduate advisor (mentor) who serves as chair or co-chair of the committee. The Chair must be a member of the College of Design faculty who has Graduate school status; at least one other member must be a faculty member of the College of Design.

Additional committee members may also be invited from other NC State Colleges (e.g. Agriculture, Engineering, Education, etc.) and/or approved graduate faculty members of research extensive universities in the UNC system (e.g. UNC Chapel Hill) as well as Duke University. For more on committee composition, see here.