Keene State College
AC-3: Undergraduate Program

The Sustainable Product Design and Innovation major at Keene State College is a pre-professional four-year program offering a cross-disciplinary curriculum to give the student a solid foundation in the artistic, scientific, and technical aspects of product design and the social and scientific aspects of sustainability concerns. Product Design involves the synthesis of consumer needs and production capabilities in the creation of new products and their affiliated services. The integrated sustainability issues link the multitude of human factors, environmental, and resource depletion concerns to the decision-making process. The curriculum draws from five disciplines: art, management, mathematics, safety, and industrial/product design to build the student's capacity in design theory and practice, material sciences, production processes, digital technology, and the quantitative and qualitative issues of sustainability and business practices. The Sustainable Product Design and Innovation major is designed to provide students with a hands-on project-based learning curriculum focusing on real-world applications grounded in a liberal arts foundation. The emphasis on innovation complemented with business management encourages creative problem-solving and entrepreneurship, providing students with the tools to adapt and evolve their career paths to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world. Integrated sustainability values prepare students for engagement in the product realization arena in the "lean" and "green" global production economy. Graduates are prepared to pursue graduate study or transition directly into careers in product design/engineering, technology/evaluation, planning, supply, production, quality control, technical services, marketing, sales, or other related professions.

The Environmental Studies (ENST) major provides students with a conceptual framework and set of skills needed to make effective, relevant, and sustaining contributions to society with respect to environmental issues, both as professional practitioners and as individual citizens. Through field and inquiry-based projects in the regional setting, students gain knowledge and develop skills in investigating environmental issues and formulating solutions. Students intending to major in Environmental Studies are encouraged to select a faculty advisor and formally declare their major as early as possible, preferably by the end of their first year. In addition, ENST majors are strongly encouraged to undertake a disciplinary minor to develop an area of specialization, which will help with postgraduate placement.

The Architecture major at Keene State College is a pre-professional four-year program designed to give students a solid foundation in the artistic, scientific, and technical aspects of architecture. The curriculum offers a range of courses in studio design, building science, sustainable design, history/theory, digital technology, and practice. The education of KSC architecture majors, grounded in the liberal arts, focuses on teaching students to become effective, creative problem solvers with the tools to adapt and evolve their career paths to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world. Graduates in architecture are prepared to pursue graduate study or transition directly into careers in architecture, planning, building science, construction management, environmental design, design-build, or other related professions.

The International Studies minor is an interdisciplinary program that combines core courses in global and comparative politics with courses in geography and history to enhance awareness of historical, spatial, and power relationships throughout the world. All students who minor in International Studies must complete courses in the three content areas enumerated below, and must either complete one intermediate modern language course or pass the CLEP test for proficiency in a foreign language. Additionally, all students should seriously consider participating in the foreign study programs that are sponsored by the Global Education Office.