The Future of Design in Higher Education (FDHE) is a global community of practice. We are a group of 200+ faculty and staff in design thinking / human-centered design at dozens of colleges and universities around the world. 

Founded in 2017, the goal of FDHE is to build community and facilitate the exchange of new ideas around teaching human-centered design and running curricular and co-curricular interdisciplinary design programs in higher ed.

FDHE runs an annual convening, weekly Zoom calls, a listserv, and a Medium publication.

Leadership Team

Executive Director

Eugene Korsunskiy, Associate Professor of Engineering and Co-Director of the Design Initiative at Dartmouth College

Organizing Directors

Kate Canales, Chair, Department of Design and Distinguished Senior Lecturer, University of Texas - Austin

Kim Hoffmann, Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of Strategic Initiatives, Segal Design Institute, Northwestern University

Fred Leichter, Founding Director of the Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity (The Hive), Claremont Colleges

Doreen Lorenzo, Assistant Dean, School of Design and Creative Technologies, University of Texas - Austin

Amy O’Keefe, Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of the Master of Science in Engineering Design Innovation, Northwestern University 

Sarah Rottenberg, Adjunct Assistant Professor Executive Director, Integrated Product Design Program, University of Pennsylvania

Colleges and Universities Represented

Our members teach and run programs at institutions across the US and the globe, including:

Arizona State University
Australian National University
Barnard College
Boise State University
Boston University
California Polytechnic State University
California State University - San Marcos
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve University
Centre College
Claremont McKenna College
Columbia University
Dartmouth College
Davidson College
Denison University
Drexel University
Elon University
Florida State University
Furman University
Georgetown University
Georgia Tech
Habib University
Harvard University
Harvey Mudd College
Haverford College
Johns Hopkins University
Kent State University
Lesley University
Macalester College
Manhattanville College
Maryland Institute College of Art
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Middlebury College
New School / Parsons
North Carolina State University
Northwestern University
Olin College
Oregon State University
Pitzer College
Pomona College
Princeton University
Radford University
Rhode Island School of Design
Rutgers University
Saint Anselm College
Scripps College
Smith College
Southern Methodist University
Southern New Hampshire University
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
Texas Christian University
Texas State University
Tulane University
Universidad Regiomontana
Università degli Studi della Repubblica di San Marino
University at Buffalo
University of California - Berkeley
University of California - Davis
University of California - Los Angeles
University College Dublin
University of Colorado - Boulder
University of Connecticut
University of Florida
University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign
University of Maryland
University of Minnesota
University of Montana
University of Nebraska
University of Nevada - Reno
University of New Zealand
University of North Carolina
University of North Texas
University of Notre Dame
University of the Pacific
University of Pennsylvania
University of San Diego
University of Southern California
University of St. Thomas
University of Texas - Austin
University of Toronto
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Useful School
Vanderbilt University
Vassar College
Western Michigan University
Whitman College
Yale University

(List last updated March 2024.)

Previous Convenings

2023

Dartmouth + MIT

2022

Northwestern

2021

Virtual

2020

Virtual

2019

University of Pennsylvania

2018

University of Texas - Austin

2017 (June)

The Hive @ Claremont Colleges

2017 (January)

Southern Methodist University