IUPUI

Herron Department To Serve As Model for Civic Engagement in the Curriculum

INDIANAPOLIS - Academic leaders at University of Delaware were awarded a research and travel grant By the Imaging America consortium to visit the Herron School of Art and Design at IUPUI to study its approach to civic engagement in the curriculum.

UD faculty members identified Herron's Department of Visual Communication as a leading model for educating citizen-professionals.

The UD proposal stated, "The outcome of the visit will be to help us plan a visual communications program that incorporates the stated goals of Imagining America. This includes making civic engagement work an essential part of pedagogy in the institution, rather than considering it "volunteer work" that is not relevant to a student's future career.

"At Herron, faculty members recognize that an enormous paradigm shift must happen at every level of production in all industrialized societies to allow global economic and environmental sustainability. Graphic designers and visual communicators are at the epicenter of information-based economies such as ours. Our students will move from the periphery of business to the center, as people realize how important creative thinking is in solving serious societal problems. We need to update our curriculum and we think we can learn quite a bit from visiting Herron. We hope that we can also contribute to the conversation by sharing our ideas about developing a relevant education for the 21st century visual communicator."