Academic Focus: College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning

The College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati has as its primary mission the creation of a better visual and design environment.  DAAP is frequently ranked as one of the best art and design schools in the nation.  Business Week ranked its design programs as one of the world's elite. I.D. (International Design) Magazine listed UC among the globe's Top 10 design schools - the only public institution to make that list. 

A driving force at DAAP is my colleague, Craig Vogel.  Craig is the director of the Center for Design Research and Innovation at DAAP. He is also a professor in the School of Design with an appointment in Industrial Design. Craig is a leading voice in cross-University initiatives in innovation.  From the UC website:

Craig is a Fellow, Past President Elect and Chair of the Board of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). He is co-author of the book, Creating Breakthrough Products, Financial Times, Prentice Hall, with Professor Jonathan Cagan. He is one of three authors of the book on innovation and organic growth, Design of Things to Come, released in June 2005.

During the last 25 years Professor Vogel has been a consultant to over 20 companies and advised and managed dozens of research projects and design studios collaborating with industry. He was recognized, in the 2008 Design Intelligence publication listing the best design and architecture schools of, as one of the most admired design educators in the US. He recently co-founded the Live Well Collaborative (LWC) a joint venture between UC and P&G. The LWC has four corporate members and is a non-profit organization that creates cross functional teams to design products and services for 50+ consumers. UC faculty student teams from the colleges of DAAP, Business, Medicine and Engineering work with faculty to respond to projects proposed by LWC members. To date the collaborative has worked on 8 different projects ranging from health care, yogurt and financial advising.

His education experience includes over 20 years of teaching at all levels of undergraduate and graduate design education at the Institute of Design, IIT, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Carnegie Mellon University and University of Cincinnati. His areas of expertise include: Integrated New Product Development, Design Strategy, Design Studio, Design History. He has held various administrative positions prior to accepting the position of Director of the CDRI in DAAP they include: Co-Chair of Design at The Art Institute of Chicago, Associate Head School of Design, Co Director of the Masters of Product Development and Associate Dean in the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University. Professor Vogel has conducted seminars and lectured through out Asia, and Europe. He has an MID from Pratt Institute, and a BA in Psychology from Marist College.

If you could "design" the perfect colleague, you would end up with Craig Vogel.  He is a brilliant thinker, a strategist, a contrarian, and a willing collaborator.