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News or events specific to the Department of Product Design

Department of Product Design launches new curriculum and minor

As of the Fall 2025 semester, the University of Kentucky’s Department of Product Design (PRD) will utilize a new curriculum for its Bachelor of Science program. After an extensive review of curriculum delivery in the opening years of the program, PRD faculty leveraged the strengths of the original curriculum while ensuring a more efficient, engaging and effective educational experience for its students. 

Blueprint Kentucky student fellows program helps reimagine one local community

This unique internship experience helps communities identify and leverage their unique assets to support economic growth, tourism and quality of life.

UK students explore community-driven design at Design Futures Forum

Earlier this summer, 10 students and three faculty members from the University of Kentucky College of Design and the Department of Landscape Architecture in the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment traveled to New Orleans for Design Futures Forum (DFF) 2025, a yearly national public interest design student leadership forum. 

College of Design honors Faculty & Staff Excellence Award Winners

The University of Kentucky College of Design honored the 2024-25 Faculty and Staff Excellence Award winners during its annual employee award ceremony at the UK Arboretum in May.  

Spring 2025 Dean's List announced

Congratulations to the College of Design students that made the Dean's List in the Spring 2025 semester. To make a Dean’s List in one of the UK colleges, an undergraduate student must earn a grade point average of 3.6 or higher and must have earned 12 credits or more in that semester, excluding credits earned in pass-fail classes. 

UK Libraries recognizes PRD student for excellence in undergraduate scholarship

University of Kentucky Libraries recognized rising product design and psychology senior Gabriel Portugal as one of the two recipients of the 2025 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Scholarship. The annual prize celebrates exceptional and original scholarship in a traditional paper and a media or digital project, and is awarded to students whose research makes substantive and creative use of UK Libraries’ collections, services and resources.

Design Students and Faculty Tour Kentucky State Capitol Renovation with Champlin | EOP

On Thursday, May 15, students and faculty from the University of Kentucky College of Design had a unique opportunity to tour the Kentucky State Capitol Building, currently undergoing a $260 million, multi-year renovation. The guided tour was hosted by UK Design alums Principal Architect Kevin Gough (BArch, 1999) and Project Designer Afif Alahmad (BArch, 2018; MArch, 2020) of Champlin | EOP, the firm overseeing the ambitious restoration of this iconic structure. 

PRD students build charging station with Campus Woods

In the fall semester of 2024, students in UK’s second-year Product Design course, PRD 220, were tasked with designing and building a new battery charging station using materials from Campus Woods, a program that repurposes felled campus trees into usable lumber for student projects.  

Exhibition to celebrate a transformative year in the Gray Design Building

The University of Kentucky invites the public to experience “Full Spectrum: A Year in the Making in the College of Design and Landscape Architecture,” a dynamic exhibition commemorating the first full academic year inside the Gray Design Building. 

PRD senior receives 2025 Maurice A. Clay Award

Austin Hirtzel, product design senior, was named the 2025  Maurice A. Clay Award recipient for the UK College of Design.