Starting this spring Iowa State is introducing a series of lectures brought to you from the College of Design. These lectures were chosen from a nominated committee coming from each of the College of Design departments. Co-chair of the college’s lecture and exhibition committee Shelby Doyle said,

“We tried to create a lecture series that was engaged across multiple disciplines in the college.”

These lectures were strictly chosen to help spread design diversity among the students and the staff that attend these lectures. With these lectures, the College of Design is hoping to bring more people into the college, and share the effects of different art styles and where they come from.

The overall goal of this lecture series is to allow students and faculty to diversify their design techniques, and show students the different types of futures they can have.

A few of the people included in these lectures are Behnaz Farahi, a creative technologist and assistant professor of design at California State University. 

T.J Dedeaux – Norrid is an artist and assistant professor of painting and drawing and the University of Iowa. 

Quardean Lewis-Aleen, founder of CEO and Youth Design Center. 

Wei Dong, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in design studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Together these people were chosen by the College of Design to show others different aspects of design and what futures you can have with them.

The lecture series right now is completely online. Signing up beforehand is mandatory to attend the lectures. While two dates have passed, Feb. 10th and 19th, the last two lectures of the series will be held March 10th by Quardean Lewis-Allen, and March 24th by Wei Dong.

In the future, the College of Design is hoping to grow the lecture series into both online and in-person lectures. Other co-chair of the college’s lectures and exhibition committee Olivia Valentine states,

“I would like to see a mix. I think having people come to campus is excellent. It’s important for the visitors to be able to see what we do at Iowa State, and that is really hard over virtual platforms.”

As the College of Design continues their lecture series, they’re hoping to bring in more students and show them what it means to be an artist and how you can be an artist in your own way.