Our Mission, Values and Vision

As part of our strategic planning process for 2013-2020, Iowa State's College of Design has adopted the following mission, values and vision statements.

Our mission is to:
Educate students to become successful designers, planners, artists and scholars who enhance human experience and improve the natural, social and built environment. Serve as a resource for Iowa and beyond through research, creative endeavors, extension and outreach.

We value:
Innovation, curiosity, collaboration, open exchange of ideas, diverse perspectives, environmental and social responsibility.

Our vision for the future:
Faculty, staff, students, alumni and partners will be leaders who imagine and respond to challenges and opportunities in a sustainable manner using innovative, interdisciplinary approaches and technologies.

This vision will be accomplished through progress on eight interrelated goals:

  1. Cultivate internal and external interdisciplinary partnerships to generate ideas and solutions—designs, plans, artworks, concepts—that address pressing challenges and opportunities and increase our understanding of the world.
  2. Promote the value of design in society.
  3. Continue to improve the quality of educational, research/creative extension and outreach programs.
  4. Promote a collegiate culture that nurtures the success and well-being of students, faculty and staff.
  5. Enhance opportunities for students to celebrate many peoples, cultures and places.
  6. Support and increase the diversity of backgrounds and perspectives represented in the college.
  7. Broaden access to the college's knowledge, educational offerings and outreach programs.
  8. Develop the college's resources—human, fiscal, physical—to maximize their impact by achieving a balance between enrollment, faculty, staff and program offerings.


In the college's action plan for 2014-2016, we have identified tactics that will be used to achieve and measure progress toward these goals.

Download a complete copy of the strategic plan for 2013-2020 and action plan for 2014-2016.