Roski announces new MFA Design program

The USC Roski School of Art and Design last week announced the addition of a two-year MFA Design program for Fall 2018.

USC Roski Dean Erica Muhl told USC News that this new program will be housed in the AT MATEO complex in downtown Los Angeles’ Arts District. According to the USC News release, the program will be centered around experimental design, as well as teaching methods and social practices in the art industry. However, the MFA students will also have the opportunity to take electives that are offered by schools across the University to enhance their studies.

“USC continues to integrate with the extraordinary city we’re part of,” Provost Michael Quick told USC News. “Roski’s new facility places our design community right in the heart of Los Angeles’ dynamic arts scene for a learning experience that can’t be replicated anywhere else.”

Set to open this summer, the new Roski campus will feature an open concept design studio, classrooms and collaboration spaces. In particular, the campus will also offer a Designer in Residence studio, which will immerse students in a behind-the-scenes look at the creative processes that world-renowned designers undergo for projects. Additionally, the campus will implement “state-of-the-art equipment and technologies,” according to the USC News release.

“Not only will we benefit greatly from being located in the vibrant Arts District, but we will have future scholars working in profound ways with the city around them,” Quick told USC News.

The MFA program will be led by Roski Vice Dean of Design Haven Lin-Kirk and aims to maximize every student’s individual experience in the studio by implementing an instructional model “focused on critical dialogue.”

Students will work closely with Roski faculty members, as well as a community of professional designers, artists, critics and curators that lie outside of the USC campus. These people will be participating in the Visiting Designer and Designer in Residence forums, which offer students the opportunity to engage with leading figures in the art and design industry.

“Our program, centrally located in one of the world’s most diverse, dynamic and influential cities — and an undisputed capital of the arts and culture — will not only graduate practicing designers, but also scholars, thinkers, teachers and bold visionaries who will apply design strategy to the world’s most intractable problems,” Muhl said to USC News.

There are several aspects of the MFA program curriculum outside of courses, such as the Global Art and Design initiative, which encourages students to think globally across disciplines through a two-seminar series that provides an in-depth look at the histories, theories and practices of global art and design.

With the new MFA program, Roski looks to turn a new page on their graduate programming. In Spring 2015, seven graduate students that made up Roski’s class of 2016 withdrew from a previously launched MFA program and expressed disappointment with the program’s funding and curriculum.

The students claimed false promises had been made by the University, such as scholarships that would cover 82 percent of their tuition that were to be granted following their first year in the program. In a statement published online, the students attributed the cut to program funding to Muhl and criticized her for her experience with visual arts.