OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Design for Social Impact (DSI) (formerly Engineering and Design for Society (EDS)) has successfully completed pilot in 2021-22 and has been approved for scale-up. This initiative is a continuing partnership between the colleges of Business, Engineering, Liberal Arts, and Honors. The Honors College serves as the host college for the initiative. Professor Jim Sweeney serves as the DSI Academic Director.
As DSI Academic Director, Jim has overall responsibility in leading DSI in scale-up, while reporting to Dean Toni Doolen and working closely with the DSI core leadership team consisting of faculty representing the colleges of Agricultural Sciences, Business, Engineering, Education, and Liberal Arts. DSI is bringing together faculty from across the university to create and deliver highly experiential curricula centered on design, innovation, and social good. A central theme is the betterment of society through solutions aligned with the OSU SP4.0 signature areas of revolutionary earth systems science, leading health and wellness, and advancing economic prosperity and social progress. The envisioned experience for students, faculty, and employers/clients includes comprehensive educational plans supporting a range of undergraduate students, multiple curricular options, and experiential learning on real-world client projects.
DSI is creating new, university-wide undergraduate academic programs including a certificate centered on design, innovation, and social good. The "Design for Social Impact" certificate brings multi-disciplinary faculty and students together via a design-based core with multiple curricular focus areas such as transdisciplinary design, design for innovation in the arts, sustainable design, and design for social good. The experience concludes with multi-disciplinary projects serving employers/clients on authentic, real-world projects.
The team is excited to launch a Design for Social Impact website in fall 2022.
With continued success, this initiative will benefit all who are looking to apply transdisciplinary, project-based experiential curricula in their programs. If you have questions and would like to learn more, please contact Jim Sweeney, DSI Academic Director, at [email protected].
