Dear design industry,
The launch of this site very exciting for our students who have put countless hours into their studies and into the development of this website. Bravo to all of the graduates, and a big thank you to the Portfolio Show Executive and faculty lead Nichole Magneson.
This year’s Portfolio Show is a significant milestone. It is the delivery of a vision to transition the MacEwan Design program which launched in 1972 from a diploma to a degree. I joined in 2014 at the very beginning of the degree writing process, but prior to this Nichole Magneson, Constanza Pacher, Wayne Williams worked tirelessly for 10+ years on constantly improving curriculum to make this transition much easier. It is also important to acknowledge the contribution of the late former design chair Marc Brisbourne, who helped develop the 3-year diploma — a stepping stone to this degree. Additionally, I want to acknowledge Isabelle Sperano, who I had the pleasure to work with in developing the Digital Experience Design pathway within this degree. I also want to acknowledge the many sessional instructors who wrote some of the course syllabi for the degree and who bring the curriculum to life every day through their incredible dedication and industry expertise. Thank you also to our Advisory Committee who provided important feedback on the degree proposal over a three-year period. Lastly, I want to thank our instructional assistants Kathy Neiman and Dianne Nicholls who have provided critical student support for our students over the last 20 years.
In recognition of the degree vision (design as an applied art and applied social science), you will notice that this year’s website shows more than the final tangible deliverables, by providing insight into the important design process and research that led to these final products. We have also included a new section of the website, which features some of the projects developed in the new final-year Capstone course that I taught with our new faculty member Adolfo Ruiz. These projects span the whole year and require students to use their full design skillset to research, plan and deliver.
Please note, this year’s graduating class is smaller as it is a transition year. The number of graduates will grow significantly over the next four years.
Enjoy and thank you for your continued support of our program and students.
Sincerely,
Robert Andruchow
Chair, Department of Art and Design
https://www.macewan.ca/design
[email protected]