Caroline Phillips has much to celebrate. On June 18, she will be the College of Design’s student commencement speaker and will walk across the stage to collect her Master of Arts in Art History diploma.

Phillips shared that she chose the Art History program at the College of Design because of her experience as an undergraduate here.

“I was a History major, but toward the end of my degree I discovered Art History. The two classes that changed my life were Professor Kate Mondloch’s ‘Art Since 1945’ and Professor James Harper’s ‘Rome in the Age of Bernini’. After teaching with Teach for America for two years, I decided to return to academia, knowing that the faculty in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture are truly extraordinary and that the master’s program would prepare me well for future doctoral work,” said Phillips.

The College of Design is also celebrating this month. Not only celebrating its more than 600 graduating students earning degrees and certificates under the new college name, but also its first graduating cohorts in the Portland-based Sports Product Design and Historic Preservation programs. If that weren’t enough, 2018 also marks 10 years of the Product Design program.

During the commencement ceremony, Wilson Smith (BArch, ‘80) an instructor in the Department of Product Design, will be recognized with the college’s highest honor, the Ellis F. Lawrence Medal. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Monday, June 18, on the South Lawn of Knight Library. Prior to commencement, a reception will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Lawrence Hall Courtyard. Refreshments and light snacks will be available. Students are encouraged to bring family members and friends to meet and mingle with faculty and fellow students.

“Wilson is an exceptionally talented designer, teacher, and motivational speaker. We are thrilled to recognize his outstanding contributions to the field of design, and his passion for giving back to the next generation of designers” says Christoph Lindner, Dean of the College of Design.

Lindner, who came to the University of Oregon from the Netherlands in 2016, led the transition from the School of Architecture & Allied Arts to the College of Design last summer. After this first year under the new College of Design banner, Lindner sees the way the College integrates the academic and real worlds as a boon for graduating students.

“Our students, when they graduate, don’t have to make a transition from a protected, private bubble into the real world,” he said. “They’ve already been working and thinking and addressing real-world problems. So, it’s about continuing what they’ve done, not transitioning into something completely different.”

College of Design Graduates by the Numbers