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Please note: We are not accepting applications to this program for Fall 2026. 

For more information about related programs and study options in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, please contact the college’s Office of Recruitment and Admissions.

In the School of Design we have a long history of designing with social impact in mind. We are excited to relaunch our two-year design master of fine arts (M.F.A.) degree with a deliberate focus on how design can be used as a tool to address the systemic issues that impact society. There has perhaps never been a more important moment in history for designers to join with others to address issues of social impact such as equity, access and how to imagine and build regenerative futures.

Where We Came From

When we first designed this M.F.A. degree in 2012, we envisaged a degree that would allow students to wrestle with some of the wicked problems that face us as a society, an ecosystem, and frankly, as a planet. Over a decade later, all of us know all too well the challenges of climate change, the challenge of establishing true equity for all and the challenge of discovering new regenerative ways to coexist on this planet with all of its inhabitants.

Design is at the heart of these issues. It is responsible for many of the issues that flow from over-consumption and a propagation of a Western capitalist worldview. It also has the potential to be a key factor in finding ways through and out the other side of many of these challenges.

Where We Are Going

As designers in this new and complex era we must be catalysts of change–not the sole creative genius to sell a great idea but an empathic, listening facilitator who takes our powerful design tools out of the studio and places them in the hands of people at the grass roots of these many and various challenges.  We must partner with people like this:

  • The food studies expert who is wrestling with how to scale and propagate an innovation to combat food deserts.
  • The activist who is trying to communicate the need for a collective re-envisioning of land and resource use and stewardship in the face of infrastructure change.
  • The clinician who is trying to find affordable ways to create adaptations for people with disabilities to enable them to have a more independent life.

Overall we must find ways to co-create a regenerative future for society, people and planet in which we can all not just survive but thrive.

The Design M.F.A.

The design M.F.A. is a two-year graduate program that engages students in collaborative practice within a dynamic, multidisciplinary studio environment. This professional graduate program breaks down boundaries and brings together students, faculty, communities and businesses to work collaboratively on the world’s significant problems for the greater good.

We offer a dynamic multidisciplinary studio environment within a tier-one, research-led university. This professional graduate program is designed to operate across disciplinary boundaries collaborating with experts across the University and beyond working in a spirit of co-creation and participation to together seek to understand and find collective solutions to some of the most entrenched systemic issues facing people and planet.

  • Do you see the potential of design in addressing social impact?
  • Are you excited by the idea of co-creating responses to systemic societal issues?
  • Do you understand that these issues are too complex and entangled to work on alone as a designer?
  • Are you looking for a community to learn with, and create stories of hope?
  • Do you want to work with others to research the issues, define the problems, and co-create solutions?

If so, come and join us.

The program intersects design thinking with a specific area of focus, allowing for in-depth exploration of major issues with a variety of industry and research partners. The M.F.A. in design is closely aligned with the internationally recognized strengths of Syracuse University, allowing design to be integrated with various campus-wide initiatives. Examples include:

We are proud of our alumni, who come from across the globe, including China, India, Pakistan, Syria, Taiwan and New York State (Brooklyn and Syracuse).

A background in design is normally required for admission, although we have in the past had exceptional candidates who can demonstrate an affinity with design practice through their prior experience and learning. If you think you are this person, please don’t hesitate to contact us so we can discuss your interest in the program.

All students will attend a summer orientation to gain an understanding of the many opportunities for focused research on our campus. They are also required to take Design Thinking and Strategies (DES 601) in preparation for the fall semester.

Students are admitted to the program for the summer semester only for a two-year, in-person immersion experience.

Students will be immersed in the realities and opportunities of graduate design education at Syracuse University  during the summer bootcamp sessions before entering the fall semester. All students will attend an orientation to better understand potential focus areas and how they pertain to design.

The 60-credit-hour M.F.A. program structure consists of three components per year: a 6-credit studio (Design Project), 3-credit design courses (Design Research, Design Communication), and 3 to 6 credits of academic and studio electives. A minimum of 3 elective credits each semester is dedicated to your academic focus requirement (your specific area of study that will inform your thesis ).

Design Project provides a studio-based experience and environment where students work collaboratively on problems and develop solutions. Design Research supports the activities of the studio and thesis development. It is expected that your academic focus area will also support studio work and may be interrelated with the Design Research course. A student whose area of focus is in entrepreneurship, for example, may bring issues of marketing and production into play in the development of the studio project and use the Design Research course to examine theories of marketing in relationship to design development.

Students will continue on to their second year after passing a review at the end of their first year and must complete a final presentation and master’s thesis in order to graduate.

Program Faculty