Art and Design

Learning Goals

• Obtain professional knowledge and integration of new practices, technologies and methods of urban planning and design.
• Engage in advanced thinking skills in integrating concepts, ideas and approaches in a team-based, interdisciplinary design process.
• Acquire new knowledge and skills in urban design that support professional leadership in the development of research and design work focused on local and global issues facing the contemporary city.

Learning Goals

• design sites and landscapes via an iterative design process.
• design landscapes based on an in-depth understanding of natural, cultural, and social systems
• produce design work with a knowledge of landscape architectural history and theory
• communicate design ideas visually and verbally, using a full range of digital and manual methods
• conduct analytical pre-design site assessments and evaluate completed designs for post-occupancy performance
• understand and use advanced digital applications and techniques to analyze, visualize and model landscapes and landscape functions
• produce documentation (plans, specifications, contracts) for project construction based on knowledge of construction standards, legal policies, and an understanding of material qualities
• undertand quantitative and qualitative research methods and recognize the role of research in design practice
• understand and practice professional ethics
• develop professional interpersonal and leadership skills

Learning Goals

The Master of Fine Arts in Interior Design, Master of Arts in Interior Design, and First Professional Master of Arts in Interior Design programs are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).

Learning Goals

• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of scholarly literature in the interdisciplinary area of study.
• Form testable hypotheses and articulate research objectives that, when met, will lead to significant contributions to the interdisciplinary field of study.
• Conduct qualitative and/or quantitative research via appropriate acquisition, analysis, and reporting of data.
• Interpret research results appropriately, integrating them into the existing knowledge in the discipline.
• Clearly and accurately communicate research findings orally and in writing, and often through the use of images (tables, figures, and other forms of imagery) and electronic or other forms of media.
• Articulate how the graduate program, including coursework and creative scholarship, fits into life and career goals.
• Conduct scholarship, in teams or with independence, in ways that consistently demonstrate ethical practice and professionalism.
• Demonstrate how the scholarship conducted represents interdisciplinary synthesis of information and perspectives from at least three areas of academic research.

Learning Goals

• Develop a fully realized creative direction that provides a platform for continued professional research and visual expression.
• Produce a body of work that demonstrates a high level of creative investigation and accomplishment.
• Acquire a professional level of technical proficiency in one or more media areas.
• Effectively communicate ideas verbally and in writing.
• Know the current and historical contexts within which their creative pursuits exist.
• Develop a well-formed personal creative philosophy.
• Understand current ethical and social issues relevant to the visual arts.
• Use relevant theory in pursuing creative university level scholarship.
• Understand the structure and organization required for university-level art instruction.

Learning Goals

• Understand and analyze the impact of wicked problems challenging society, environments and eco-systems in the 21st century and its interdependencies at a local, regional and global levels.
• Apply design thinking methods to analyze wicked problems, and evaluate the most powerful leverage points for design intervention.
• Apply design processes as a means to manage the development of solution ideas from problem framing through to concept generation until prototyping and turn that into viable business opportunities.
• Employ research (data collection) and analysis methods strategically to support the different phases of the design process, when recognizing/discovering, defining and representing problems to learn about users/stakeholders, products, contexts and experiences.
• Assess and adapt models or applications of change theory, strategic management and design thinking tools to implement identified opportunities into pivoting actions of social innovation and civic entrepreneurship.
• Create innovative and meaningful design solutions for short/mid/long-term contexts, at varying levels of scale, with a view to improve quality of life and foster sustainable and resilient future communities.

Learning Goals

• Clearly and accurately communicate scholarship orally and in writing, integrating theory, creation, research, and design problem solving.
• Through the develop of a broad body of work, demonstrate proficiency in the design of communications through the use of technologies that incorporate human interaction within environments, objects, and electronic and traditional publications.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of scholarly literature in graphic design.
• Articulate how the graduate program, including coursework and creative scholarship, fits into life and career goals.
• Conduct scholarship, in teams or with independence, in ways that consistently demonstrate ethical practice and professionalism.

Learning Goals

• Demonstrate understanding of craft and professional practice through coursework, workshops, and completion of refined imaginative literary manuscripts in multiple genres
• Identify, research, and examine—through coursework, fieldwork, and literary practice—the natural world and the environmental imagination
• Broaden and deepen understanding of literary and theoretical traditions of the major genres and the methodologies of craft analysis and practice
• Broaden and deepen understanding of the cultural and natural environment through significant coursework in environmental courses available at Iowa State University both within and beyond the MFA program and English Department
• Design, write, workshop, refine, and defend a significant body of publishable- or production-quality imaginative writing, including a full-length thesis manuscript, which demonstrates professional understanding and application of craft and technique, literary tradition, and the environmental imagination
• Gain practical training and experience in creating and fostering a healthy literary community and sustaining a professional life in letters through teaching and research assistantships and internships, literary journal editorial internships and positions, as well as land stewardship, reading series, and other outreach opportunities

Learning Goals

• Graduates of the program will apply knowledge of the purpose and history of planning to analyze contemporary planning issues and scholarship.
• Graduates of the program will demonstrate a working knowledge of planning law and local government institutions regarding how plans and policies are developed and implemented.
• Graduates of the program will be able to evaluate a planning process; critically analyze how social, cultural, and economic forces influence land use changes; be able to create alternative scenarios for the future; and have experience applying these ideas through active learning and real-life experiences.
• Graduates of the program will have a working knowledge of both qualitative and quantitative methods and demonstrate their ability to apply these methods to planning problems.
• Graduates of the program will engage communities, identify a range of tools that can be applied to different situations, and demonstrate their ability to expand participation, ensure inclusion, and give voice to diverse stakeholders.
• Graduates of the program will demonstrate professional written, oral and visual communication skills utilizing multiple forms of media within a variety of educational and community settings.
• Graduates of the program will demonstrate their knowledge and ability to create sustainable and resilient communities within a changing world.
• Graduates of the program will demonstrate their ability to make strategic decisions, evaluate projects, and analyze policies.
• Graduates of the program will conduct, in teams or independently, research that analyzes and evaluates a planning issue and proposes new ideas or potential solutions.

Learning Goals

• Comprehensive design skills in the field of architecture based on ethical responsibilities to clients, the wider society, and the physical environment.
• Understanding of diverse cultural and social contexts and translation of this knowledge into design of built environments that support and include people of various backgrounds, resources, and abilities.
• Understanding of the role of the built environment in human health, safety, and welfare at multiple scales, and application of this knowledge in architectural design.
• Ecological knowledge and responsibility in respect of the agency and impact of design in conditions of climate crisis.
• Knowledge of the established and emerging systems, technologies, and assemblies of building construction, and the criteria architects use to assess those technologies against the design and performance objectives of projects.
• Develop research questions and respond to them with appropriate methods.
• Knowledge of the histories and theories of architecture, landscape and urbanism, and how these are related to social, cultural, economic, environmental and political contexts.
• Ability to make design decisions within an architectural project while demonstrating broad integration and consideration of building envelope systems and assemblies, structural systems, environmental control systems and life safety systems.
• Familiarity with the regulatory contexts and codes relevant to architectural practice in the United States.
• The path to becoming a licensed architect in the United States, the range of career opportunities available, and how the graduate program prepares for professional practice.