Collaborating with design professionals and industry to build a design course for freshmen

A two-quarter course in Engineering Design and Communication offers one answer to an old challenge: how industry and the academy can work together to improve the teaching of design. This article describes a successful collaboration between faculty in a freshman design course and professional industrial designers. Designers take on four key roles in the course: client, consultant, guest lecturer, and section instructor. The model results in a cutting edge course for freshman that yields benefits for all parties.