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THE
DOCTORATE IN DESIGN EDUCATION: BEYOND THE MFA
Jacques Giard, Ph.D.
IDSA Director School of Design
Arizona State University
The paper addresses a critical challenge facing professional design education including graphic design: should the doctorate now become the terminal degree for design education? The topic is worthy of discussion for two significant reasons: first, the constant evolution over the last fifty years in design pedagogy, philosophy and general knowledge has broadened the content in design education, and second, the introduction of design education programs is now occurring more and more within the university system, something quite different from the specialized schools and colleges of art and design. The paper will begin by defining and positioning doctoral education with the university system, that is, what are the expectations of a doctorate and how does it fit into the greater scheme of academe and professional design education. The paper will then contextually situate the professions of design and design education within this doctoral framework. That is, the relevance and importance of a higher level of education in design will be posited, including 1) the value of doctoral education to the design professions, 2) the value of doctoral education to design education, and 3) possible negative impact if the doctorate was not perceived as the logical next step. The paper concludes with several possible educational models that are potentially more contextually appropriate, operationally relevant and pedagogical meaningful to contemporary design education and practice. Biographical Sketch Jacques Giard is Director of the School of Design (graphic, industrial and interior design) at Arizona State University. He received his undergraduate education in furniture design from l'Institut des arts appliquŽs in MontrŽal, his graduate diploma in industrial design (engineering) from the City of Birmingham Polytechnic in England, and his doctorate in fine arts from Concordia University in MontrŽal. Before becoming a design educator Giard was involved in the design and development of furniture, wooden toys, medical equipment, sailboats and way finding for the 1976 Summer Olympic Games in MontrŽal. He began his career in design education with the Department of Art and Design at the University of Alberta. He then joined the School of Industrial Design at Carleton University (Canada) in 1979 and became its director in 1984. In 1998, he accepted the position of Director of the School of Design at Arizona State University. He is the past-president of the Association of Canadian Industrial Designers and was a member of the organizing committee for the 1997 ICSID Congress in Toronto.