Northwestern university is conducting an informal search for a senior person in design to help lead its design efforts. A generous gift from the Segal Family (founders of the company  Crate and Barrel) has allowed us to start the Segal Design Institute with an interesting range of programs. These are described at http://www.segal.northwestern.edu/ . 

All engineering undergraduates take a two quarter (20 week) course on Engineering Design and Communications in the Freshman year.  In addition, we offer an undergraduate degree in Manufacturing and Design Engineering (MaDE) and a design certificate for those who take an appropriate number of courses and prepare a portfolio.

At the graduate level, we offer a one-year MS program in Engineering Design and Innovation (EDI) as well as the MMM program, a two-year dual degree program with the Kellogg School of Management, leading to an MBA and MEM degrees, with an emphasis on Design and Operations.  Finally, we also offer a Master in Product  Development degree for working professionals (MPD). The MMM program is an important and critical part of this search. See http://mmm.northwestern.edu  

Chicago is a strong center for design, including programs at major universities (School of the Art Institute, The Institute of Design from IIT, and the University of Illinois at Chicago) and major design firms (Ideo, Herbst LaZar Bell, Gravity Tank, etc.)

The search

I have been given permission to do an informal search for potential candidates. We need someone with a senior standing and lots of experience, someone who would be eligible for appointment as a Full Professor in our Clinical or Adjunct series. The ideal candidate would be someone with considerable industrial experience who wishes to play a role in the education of design professionals. The candidate would be a senior person, eligible for hiring at the Full Professor level in the Adjunct series. It could be someone who is retired or about to retire but who wishes to play an active educational role in building up the profession.

We do not at this time have a formal position open, which is why this is simply an informal canvassing. I personally see this as a wonderful opportunity for a senior professional to help establish an important educational component. (Note that although we do not have an formal open position, the senior administration has asked me to do this informal solicitation. Northwestern's design efforts are housed in the School of Engineering, but involves people from across the campus in numerous disciplines.)

Please feel free to forward this letter. Interested people should contact me for further discussion.

Don Norman


Donald A. Norman
Breed Professor of Design, Northwestern University
Co-Director MMM Program. MBA + MEM: Operations+Design
Co-Director Segal Design Institute
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http://mmm.northwestern.edu 
www.jnd.org