KSC Proposes New Major in Sustainable Design
August 14, 2008 | Levent OZLER
Keene State College is adding a new baccalaureate program in Sustainable Product Design and Innovation (SPDI).
The four-year, pre-professional SPDI curriculum will integrate the social and scientific aspects of sustainability concerns into the current Product Design and Development option in Technology Studies.
This option gives students a solid foundation in the artistic, scientific, and technical aspects of product design and draws on five disciplines - art, management, mathematics, safety, and industrial/product design - to teach design theory and practice, material sciences, production processes, digital technology, and the quantitative and qualitative issues of sustainability and business practices.
"We know that innovation happens at the boundaries between disciplines," says Lisa Hix, principal faculty member for the new SPDI program.
"Courses in the arts and safety help with ergonomic design; math and management courses help students understand the economic implications of a new product."
Integrating sustainability values into KSC's current Product Design and Development program will prepare students for engagement in the new "lean and green" global economy.
But faculty in the Technology, Design & Safety and the Management departments also expanded and refined the curriculum in response to students' growing interest in sustainability issues.
more: keene.edu/newsevents/default.cfm?Type=NewsDetail&N (28)
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