Student Spotlights

As an Arts and Sciences student, taking CPSC classes is a nice change of pace to apply what I’m learning in a very different setting from what I’m used to. The minor is helpful for everyone because it brings different methods and perspectives into the same space. Through CPSC, I have felt empowered by design not to take things as they are. The ‘how might we’ framework has restructured the way I look at the world, because it’s a practice of looking at how things are and how we might make them better. Overall, CPSC is a really great opportunity that not every school has.

I think I’m a much more observant, considerate, and cautious designer having had conversations about socially engaged practice. CPSC is about really understanding what your role is as a designer in community partnerships, understanding the work you take on, and your position in it. I think those kinds of conversations don’t happen enough in general. This minor has sparked for me the recognition of the ways we can do better.

It’s been a theme with CPSC that these classes don’t just end; they build into the future as well. Once a class is over, you don’t stop engaging with the people and the neighborhoods and the communities. The point is, how can we continue to engage with our partners, and how can we bring that type of engagement into the future? With CPSC, you can take a general interest in engagement and apply it in many different ways. CPSC is all about using what we learn in a real-world setting.

Creative Practice for Social Change is the perfect program for someone who looks at the classes required of them and says ‘I want to take some classes that take me out of my comfort zone, I want to do something that’s new but that I know I’m going to be talking about for the next 15-20 years.’ The classes in CPSC offer an active education. CPSC teaches us to address social injustice and speak about problems in a way that’s tangible and actionable, while integrating those practices and diverse viewpoints into whatever else we are studying. Whether I’m in printmaking or sculpture or Management 100, CPSC helps transform my education.