This is an exciting time to be at work as an artist, designer, or architect. We are faced with unprecedented opportunities to shape our world and generate meaningful responses to social and environmental challenges. Digital technologies have transformed the way we live and the way we create, increasing the potential for interaction and communication as boundaries between the global and the local disappear ever more rapidly.
The creative terrain of our contemporary world demands a new educational paradigm. The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis provides a rigorous education in architecture, art, and design with the outstanding collection of a world-class art museum and the unparalleled resources of a leading research university. Innovation and collaboration are at the core of our mission of interdisciplinary study and practice. We recognize that design and the visual arts play significant roles in inspiring solutions to social and environmental concerns and have formulated an educational model that is flexible and attuned to the global realities of our complex century.
With a nationally recognized faculty of artists, designers, architects, and scholars, we are a community committed to exploring the convergences of art, architecture, and design. Our students are responsive and responsible—engaged in applying the tools of our fields to effect positive change.
Whether you are a prospective or current student, parent, alumnus, or friend, I invite you to engage the world with us. It is both exciting and inspiring.
Carmon Colangelo
Ralph J. Nagel Dean, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
E. Desmond Lee Professor for Collaboration in the Arts