Dan went from being a Director of Design to Chair of the Industrial Design Department at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Why did he make this change? Because he loves design and was tired of the poor quality of design students coming out of American ID programs.

His focus:
Develop Knowledge supported by skills.

Prepare students to work at the highest level within their field of choice.

Have students engage in the community and take leadership roles.

Design is about creativity and innovation, which is teachable.

I am most impressed by the idea that design (and art) is a knowledge based endeavor. Training of Industrial Designers should focus on their ability to think and what they know. Granted, these have to be coupled to skills, but skill is there to express thought.

He has already started to implement this thinking at CIA's Industrial Design program. The success he and his students have already had are a strong indication that his thinking and message is dead on.