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Program Overview

Currently accepting applications Apply now >> Next program starts: Autumn 2008 Program location: Seattle Sign up to receive e-mail updates >> Contact a program representative >>   Program at a glance >>

Successful design firms rely on both talented designers with strong aesthetic and technical skills as well as insightful leaders adept at anticipating future trends and influencing and motivating others. However, many accomplished designers have not had formal training to gain the leadership and management skills needed by thriving design firms. The Design Firm Leadership and Management Certificate Program addresses this gap by helping designers acquire needed skills to move into leadership positions in large and mid-size design firms, or to better manage their own practices. Acknowledging the increasingly multidisciplinary nature of design, the specialized design leadership and management program engages experts from different design disciplines. The credit program's structure encourages students to learn from and inspire each other through a participatory hands-on format.

Program Objectives

Design Firm Leadership and Management is a nine-month program whose strategy-leadership-management focus is carefully woven through all three courses in the program. Across each of the three quarters, students will utilize a case-study approach to examine concepts and engage in discussion and analysis with classmates and guest speakers. The program aims to:

• Define the direction and formulate the vision of an organization
• Achieve a balanced alignment of strategy, leadership and management
• Supply the tools needed to immediately apply knowledge

Program Benefits

• Based on curricula developed expressly for design firms by the UW Department of Architecture Professionals Advisory Council, this program blends tested management techniques with leading-edge thinking.

• Working with a nationally recognized faculty of design and architecture consultants, participants gain an in-depth understanding of both the fundamentals of management and the most contemporary leadership concepts.

• Participants develop a "tool kit" of best practices they can apply to their organizations.

Who Should Participate

This program is intended for professionals with at least four years experience who seek to leverage strengths in design, creativity and innovation in order to move into firm leadership and management. The ideal candidates work in creative and innovative organizations in disciplines such as architecture, construction, engineering, interiors, graphics, landscape architecture, industrial design or software architecture.

Others who benefit from this program include principals and owners who want to more effectively lead their firms, and managers of in-house design departments who need the tools to manage for increased results.

Contact a Program Representative

To learn more about the Design Firm Leadership and Management Certificate Program, please call 206-685-8936 in the greater Seattle area, or 888-469-6499, or e-mail tdvorak@extn.washington.edu.