New minor in Design Studies
Boston College will launch a minor in Design Studies this fall as part of an initiative to expand offerings and increase collaborations focused on the “design thinking” approach to finding human-centered solutions to complex problems.
The minor, to be offered through the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, is among the latest opportunities for students to learn and practice the tenets of design thinking, which is foremost in the guiding principles of the Human-Centered Engineering Program, launched in 2022.
Sunanda Bhattacharya, associate vice provost for design and innovation strategy
“The new minor grows from the interest and requests from students from across our schools and colleges who want to do more with this subject,” said Associate Vice Provost Sunanda Bhattacharya. “We’ve called the minor ‘Design Studies,’ rather than design thinking, because it is focused on the process. We have finance majors, we have literature students, we have philosophy students, writers, all interested in this subject.”
The 18-credit minor includes three required courses and three electives. The curriculum begins with Innovation Through Design Thinking, a course first developed and offered in 2019 at the request of Winston Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley and Vice Provost for Research Thomas Chiles, Bhattacharya said. More than 700 students have taken the class, signaling that undergraduate interest extends well beyond STEM, with strong engagement from students in the social sciences and humanities, he added.
Interest in the subject has been fueled in part by experiences many students have prior to college, Bhattacharya said: High schools now contain makerspaces and 3D printers, where students can learn to turn ideas into prototypes, or simply get a grasp of the tools that are shaping innovation.
The University’s state-of-the-art science and engineering center at 245 Beacon Street, which opened in 2022, houses the Hatchery, BC’s newest makerspace. Bhattacharya said new design thinking initiatives like the minor will allow students to expand their knowledge in the field well beyond the hands-on experiences of the makerspaces.
A big part of that comes from a synergy that exists between design thinking and its traditional liberal arts curriculum shaped by BC’s Jesuit, Catholic mission, he said.
“BC’s Jesuit, Catholic ethos promotes people doing something to serve the common good,” he said. “It could be a new program to help the homeless. Or it could be a new device to help people in another country. That ethos is here and our efforts in design thinking are based on harnessing the power of design for the common good. That is the overarching goal.”
Associate Professor of the Practice of Graphic Design Carissa Henriques, who will direct the minor, said the program can attract a broad sampling of students.
“It is an interdisciplinary minor for everybody, ideally,” said Henriques. “Design Studies can integrate with a student’s current major or minor. It can be the connection point between academic interests and help students bring design-driven creative innovation to the fore.”
Henriques said the minor and its course offerings equip students with skills that help in a competitive job market.
“One of the biggest value-added is the problem-solving process,” Henriques said. “Using the design thinking processes means students are considering people’s behaviors and actions and integrating research that is human-centered in the problem-solving process using ethical frameworks and implementation science.
“Those are powerful skills that can be brought into the workplace.”