January 15 Priority Deadline.

Apply to MFA DSI to learn the design mindsets and capabilities to support people and the planet.

How can design shift us towards more healthy, caring systems?
What conditions and collaborations enable communities, systems, and ecosystems to thrive?
How can eco-social design increase innovation and our capacities for change?

Social design
works with communities, organizations, governments, businesses, and the planet through:

Strengthening Relationships + Care

Advocating for health, access, ecologies, restoration, joy, and healing. Supporting shared values and interdependence while honoring nature’s wisdom.
Social Design asks good questions and deepens connections, with care.

Co-Creating Intentionally.

Collaborating with communities, advocating for mutual benefit, accountability, and abundance. Centering lived experience and responsibility, while reducing harm.
Social Design can shift power while building leadership and creatively responding.

Embracing Complexities

Breaking from things that no longer serve us. Recognizing the continuum and pluralities, and making the invisible visible.
Social Design supports new thinking over more things, to imagine possibilities and lead with vision.

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DSI Department Scholarships have been increased!

Apply before January 15 Priority Deadline for earliest consideration

Good news! We are thrilled to announce that our Fall 2026 scholarship amounts have increased. Our Paul Polak and Equity in Design scholarships are now $28,000 each. These are two-year awards (distributed $14,000 per year) offered to two applicants who submit their applications before the January 15 Priority Deadlines.

START YOUR APPLICATION

EVENTS

Attend our Virtual Info Session: January 7

Join our Virtual Info Session to “Ask Us Anything!” before the January 15 Priority Deadline. Get information about how to apply, available scholarships, and any questions you have about your future degree in social design. Receive an $80 application fee waiver.

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Pilar Finuccio (MFA DSI '18) leads the Center for Urban Pedagogy, CUP

Take a look inside CUP, the award-winning nonprofit dedicated to civic education and engagement, in an interview with Pilar Finuccio (MFA DSI ’18), CUP Executive Director, by Gregory Herbowy, SVA Communications.

EVENTS

Last session before Priority Deadline

Come to our final Virtual Info Session “Ask Us Anything!” before the priority application deadline of January 15. Want to make a difference in the world? Apply to MFA DSI to learn how. Receive an $80 application fee waiver.

Thesis 2018

Thesis 2018

Moms Make Books

Pilar Finuccio (MFA DSI ’18)

Moms Make Books is a bookmaking workshop for mothers with children between the ages of 4 and 12 who want sexual health development to begin at home – and include the messages and values they want to impart to their children.