The Detroit Mercy School of Architecture will host the prestigious student-oriented Design Futures Student Leadership Forum on the McNichols Campus May 21-25.
This sixth annual event brings together student leaders from across the country to discuss and explore public interest design — known as PID — both as it is today and what it could be for the future.
“Public interest design is essentially making sure the design of the world around us involves all people, not just those who can afford to build,” explained Dan Pitera, professor of architecture and executive director of Detroit Mercy’s Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC). “It’s basically what the DCDC has been doing for 25 years, which is why we’re so supportive of this project.”
Detroit Mercy is one of the founding schools behind the forum, but it is the first time the University has hosted the event.
Only 70 students are chosen from those across the country who apply. The students are chosen from among many disciplines, not just architecture or design. Business and political science students also participate because, Pitera says, “a policy maker can have a major effect on the built environment.” The only cost for students is transportation and the rest is paid for by the partnership of universities that host the event and grants from several philanthropic foundations.
“The intention of the forum is to be relatively small,” Pitera said. “With only 70 students and 30-40 faculty, we can have the type of conversations over the course of the week that can be inspiring to both student and faculty. We all thrive on that.”
The students return to their colleges and universities inspired to lead and share their knowledge and thoughts about the forum. Pitera says Detroit Mercy students make a presentation based on their experience at the leadership forum.
“The definition of ‘leader’ in our world needs to change,” Pitera said. “That’s what we’re trying to do here. We help move the student forward, and help show what leadership could look like.”
Alumni who have attended in the past have praised the experience as much for what it inspired in them in terms of their profession, but also for what they learned about themselves.
“It made me ask if I have been in the passenger seat or the driver’s seat when it came to my education,” said Jacob Theut ’17, who attended the forum in 2016.
“I worked with a bunch of people who are all concerned about the same thing,” he said. “I learned how to do community meetings and speak to the interests of the neighborhood. It was essentially a weeklong crash course in compassion in design.”
Samantha Szeszulski ’16, attended the forum said the conference confirmed for her what she says she already knew: “Even more so than design, my passion is for helping people.”
At the forum, she explained “we explored ideas around race, culture, wealth, privilege, gentrification and so much more, as these topics pertain to design, development and the future of the built environment.”
Both say they call on the people they met at Design Futures when approaching an issue with their daily work; both are design professionals working in metro Detroit.
“The values embodied in the Design Futures conference influence my work every day,” Szeszulski said. “If not directly, then by causing me to ask ‘how can we be doing better?’”
For more information about the Design Futures Student Leadership Forum click here.
