The School of Design was established in 1948. Now in its fifth decade, the School of Design at North Carolina State University has concerned itself from the beginning with preparing designers who, in the broadest sense, shape the world.
Design education is more than an attempt to teach a set of technical skills.
The aim of all design curricula in the School of Design is to develop the designer s perception, knowledge, skills, and problem solving abilities. The School of Design admits students through a selective process that ensures a highly motivated and heterogeneous design community. The entering student body consistently ranks at the top academic achievement in the university, and the school s graduation rates are the highest in the institution. Providing undergraduate and graduate study in multiple disciplines and encouraging individual plans of study, the School functions as a unified, interactive education center, dedicated to preparing designers capable of shaping the environment to various scales, but always in response to society s needs. In its early years, under the guidance of founding Dean Henry L. Kamphoefner, the School of Design experienced a remarkable period of creative and intellectual development.