The School of Art and Design History and Theory

Undergrad Experience
- - First Year
    - Students entering Parsons share a common first-year experience. The same course sequence constitutes the first year of every BFA and BBA program, providing a foundational experience that familiarizes students with the tools, methods, and skills of art and design. First-year courses prepare students for life as skilled and socially aware artists and designers. Classes focusing on broadly relevant design concepts, tools, and methods—including studios exploring 2D and 3D processes, drawing, and digital design as well as liberal arts seminars—bring together students who are passionate about all kinds of art and design and who will one day forge new paths in an array of disciplines.
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Design Studies MA
- Drawing on the breadth and depth of expertise in design theory and practice at Parsons, this new Master of Arts program offers students the opportunity to explore design as both a field of scholarly research and an agent of social change.
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Fashion Studies MA
- Launched in fall 2010, this Master of Arts program allows students to engage in the evolving field of fashion studies. Using an interdisciplinary approach, students explore fashion as object, image, text, practice, theory, and concept and develop a critical understanding of fashion and its complex global intersections with identities, histories, and cultures in the contemporary world.
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History of Design and Curatorial Studies MA
- Offered jointly with the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, the History of Design and Curatorial Studies program leads to a Master of Arts degree. Graduates go on to careers as historians, curators, and scholars in museums, universities, historic houses, auction houses, and galleries.
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About ADHT

Designing in Dark Times: an Arendtian Lexicon

To celebrate the release of Designing in Dark Times: an Arendtian Lexicon, we are organizing a series of dialogues to further explore what “dark times”...

Working in Fashion / Studies: MAFS Alumni and Career Panel

Working in Fashion / Studies MA Fashion Studies Alumni & Career Panel In recognition of the launch of our MA Fashion Studies program...

The New Literary Review and Theory of Fashion present: Francesca Granata, Experimental Fashion

Credit: Garment designed by Nina Veresova for her “-ology” collection (2017). Photographer: Nadezhda Belova The Russian edition of Prof. Francesca Granata’s book Experimental Fashion: Performance Art,...

Legacy with Sebastian Grant - November 19th, 2020

Scholarship in the history of jewelry making in the 20th Century has often focused on a very narrow discourse based on primarily white European and...

Francesca Granata on the Grotesque Body in Fashion

Fashion Studies Professor Francesca Granata was interviewed about her book Experimental Fashion and the concept of the grotesque body in fashion for Thrive Global. Read the full...

Parsons Highlight Archives: Design Studies MA Highlights

“Hope By Design” – ADHT’s Susan Yelavich and NSSR’s Malgorzata Bakalarz in Quartz Magazine

By adht | Published: June 14, 2017

Malgorzata Bakalarz, PhD candidate at the New School for Social Research, joins forces with ADHT’s own Susan Yelavich, Associate Professor of Design Studies and director…

Hacking Warsaw’s Palace of Culture

By Claudia Marina | Published: May 11, 2017

by Susan Yelavich, Director of the MA Design Studies program To all outward appearances, Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science would seem to be…

ADHT Graduate Student Symposium at Parsons Festival 2017

By adht | Published: May 2, 2017

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Komal Sharma, MA Design Studies ’15

By adht | Published: March 17, 2017

Tell us about your career path from New Delhi to New York? Any advice for prospective Parsons ADHT students planning a move to the United…

Making Home in Wounded Spaces featured on Archinect

By adht | Published: March 2, 2017

Making Home in Wounded Spaces, an international symposium co-sponsored by the MA Design Studies program of ADHT, and its keynote speaker Lina Sergie Attar were…

Alumni Spotlight: Salem Tsegaye, MA Design Studies ’14

By adht | Published: February 3, 2017

Salem Tsegaye is Assistant Director of the Arts Research Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts. There, she supports faculty research development, fosters…

MA Design Studies 2017 Symposium: Making Home in Wounded Places

By adht | Published: February 3, 2017

Reminder: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS open until Dec. 10th for Making Home in Wounded Places: Memory, Design, and the Spatial March 3 – 4, 2017 An…

Jilly Traganou Awarded Fulbright Scholarship to Conduct Research on the Olympics and Design in Rio

By adht | Published: December 12, 2016

Jilly Traganou is an architect and Associate Professor in Spatial Design Studies. Her recent publications include a book titled Designing the Olympics: Representation, Participation, Contestation…

Plot(s) Journal of Design Studies Call for Submissions

By adht | Published: December 6, 2016

The call for submissions for Plot(s) Volume IV is now open. Plot(s) Journal of Design Studies is an annual peer-reviewed publication produced and edited by the MA Design Studies program…

Announcing PLOT(S) Online

By adht | Published: October 31, 2016

ADHT is proud to announce Parsons MA Design Studies online journal PLOT(S) is live! Check it out at: http://adht.parsons.edu/designstudies/plots PLOT(S) has contributions from an international…

MA DS Alum Contribute to Metropolis Magazine

By adht | Published: October 21, 2016

Read all about it! MA Design Studies alumni Dora Vanette (’14), Estefania Acosta de La Peña (’16) and Misha Volf (’16) published articles in the latest issue…

Jilly Traganou Wins Design Incubation Award

By adht | Published: September 28, 2016

Associate Professor of Spatial Design Studies Jilly Traganou won the Design Incubation Communication Design Educators Award in the category of Scholarship for her research in the…

The School of Art and Design History and Theory

About ADHT

The School of Art and Design History and Theory offers courses to students in all schools at Parsons. Its curriculum helps student develop the intellectual rigor necessary to become the next generation of art and design leaders.

Insights

The School of Art and Design History and Theory

Designing in Dark Times: an Arendtian Lexicon

Working in Fashion / Studies: MAFS Alumni and Career Panel

The New Literary Review and Theory of Fashion present: Francesca Granata, Experimental Fashion

Legacy with Sebastian Grant - November 19th, 2020

Francesca Granata on the Grotesque Body in Fashion

Parsons Highlight Archives: Design Studies MA Highlights

“Hope By Design” – ADHT’s Susan Yelavich and NSSR’s Malgorzata Bakalarz in Quartz Magazine

Hacking Warsaw’s Palace of Culture

ADHT Graduate Student Symposium at Parsons Festival 2017

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Komal Sharma, MA Design Studies ’15

Making Home in Wounded Spaces featured on Archinect

Alumni Spotlight: Salem Tsegaye, MA Design Studies ’14

MA Design Studies 2017 Symposium: Making Home in Wounded Places

Jilly Traganou Awarded Fulbright Scholarship to Conduct Research on the Olympics and Design in Rio

Plot(s) Journal of Design Studies Call for Submissions

Announcing PLOT(S) Online

MA DS Alum Contribute to Metropolis Magazine

Jilly Traganou Wins Design Incubation Award

The School of Art and Design History and Theory

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