January 1, 0001

With the receipt of Drexel’s largest ever National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant, Westphal will host an innovative institute this summer focusing on the history of modern design. As national interest in applied design and material culture has gained rapid momentum—including the fields of product design, graphic design, fashion and interior design—the study of the history of design has become increasingly relevant and important. The NEH summer institute will seek to prepare educators from around the country to explore and teach the subject.

“Teaching the History of Modern Design: The Canon and Beyond” will take place from July 6 to 31 at Westphal’s URBN Center (3501 Market Street). The intensive institute will combine traditional and alternative approaches to the study of design history, engaging faculty from diverse disciplines in content that explores the study of designed objects that shape our everyday lives. Twenty-five faculty will be selected nationally to receive a stipend and participate, free of tuition, in the institute.

The first of its kind at Drexel, the institute is directed by David Raizman, Distinguished Professor of Art & Art History. The author of a key introductory text on the subject entitled History of Modern Design (2^nd ed.), which is currently used as a text at more than 100 colleges and universities worldwide, Professor Raizman successfully applied for the NEH grant. Thanks to this grant, he says, educators can focus on creating and delivering stimulating courses in an exciting field, in addition to challenging assumptions and exploring new territory and approaches to the subject.

Professor Raizman will join six internationally-known visiting scholars in leading seminars during the month-long institute. Seminars will range in topics from the mass market for designed goods to design in the contexts of gender and globalism. Explorations will include the roles played by technology, politics and social relations in the historical study of design, as well as the study of significant designers and manufacturers.

Additionally, the institute will host experiential learning trips to regional museums and local collections, including Westphal’s own Fox Historic Costume Collection along with the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Based on the seminars, participants will conduct collaborative research and give team presentations to share information and strategies for teaching the history of design. The application deadline to participate in the institute is March 2, 2015. Click here to apply.

Resident institute scholars include ReginaLee Blaszczyk, PhD, Leeds University, England; Maria Elena Buszek, PhD, University of Colorado Denver; Catharine Rossi, PhD, Kingston University, England; Sarah Teasley, PhD, Royal College of Art, London; and Vladimir Kulic, PhD, Florida Atlantic University. Carma R. Gorman, PhD, University of Texas at Austin, will serve as project faculty.

David Raizman, PhD has more than thirty years of active teaching and scholarship in art and design history. He serves on the editorial board of Design and Culture, a peer-reviewed journal which focuses on history, theory and criticism of contemporary design. He is also a member of the Design Studies Forum (DSF), which was founded in 1983 and seeks to build the study of design history in the United States.