CCS MFA

The CCS MFA program consists of two departments: Design and Transportation Design. These two disciplines overlap and share some common curricula, but within each program, renowned designers, industry experts, and thought leaders drill down to develop a keen focus. The program demands collaborative problem-solving with peers and participation in community projects that take place beyond the classroom. Those who emerge from the program will have an exceptional understanding of conceptualization, direction, and the application of design in a spectrum of industries, as well as a fluent ability to express their ideas.Close ↑

Students learn business fundamentals from faculty of the University of Michigan's renowned Stephen M. Ross School of Business. This partnership with a premier business school provides graduates with the foundational tools required for implementing design concepts, managing projects, making strategic decisions, and becoming leaders. Close ↑

Joanne Healy
Director of Graduate Studies
MFA, Yale University
BA, Wesleyan University

Joanne Healy joins CCS with more than 20 years of strategic marketing and design experience in the areas of brand management, corporate communications, and environmental and interactive design. She started her career as a senior designer with Stuart Ash at Gottschalk+Ash International in Canada. Returning to the United States, she was managing director of Optima Group, a management consultancy in Fairfield, Connecticut, and then became vice president of the Interactive Strategies Group with the investment management firm T. Rowe Price Associates in Baltimore, Maryland.

Larry Erickson
Paul and Helen Farago Chair of Transportation Design
BS, Art Center College of Design

Prior to CCS, Erickson was a chief designer at Ford Motor Company. Leading the team that created the 2005 Ford Mustang was one of his accomplishments during his tenure with the company. He spent two and a half years at the Ford Dunton studios spearheading their small car program. He has designed the presidential Cadillac limousine while at GM, busses for Bartlett Design in California, and motorcycles and motorcycle accessories for Tracy Design. In addition to the production work, Erickson is a highly regarded designer and builder of custom hot rods, and he has collaborated with Chip Foose, Craig Naff, and the late Boyd Coddington.

Maria Luisa Rossi
Chair of MFA Design
MID, Domus Academy, Milan, Italy
BA, ISIA, Florence, Italy

Maria Luisa Rossi is an internationally acclaimed designer and educator. As an undergraduate in Florence, Italy, her work was featured in the prestigious Domus magazine, earning her a scholarship to attend the premiere master’s program in industrial design at the celebrated Domus Academy in Milan. She spent two years in Paris as chief concept designer at ARPE, where she designed interiors for private residences and Japanese hotels. She founded the design consultancy Iavicoli & Rossi in Tokyo, creating furniture and home accessories for manufacturers that included Zeus Noto, Ravarini Castoldi, and Anthologie Quartett. After time in Los Angeles, she returned to Florence in 2002 to become a professor at Polimoda, a leading fashion design and marketing institute, and at ISIA, an industrial and communication design school. She has also taught at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, and has conducted workshops at Singapore’s Design Center and the Ecole Supérieure d’Arts Appliqué in Geneva, Switzerland.Close ↑

Founded as the Society for Arts and Crafts in 1906, CCS heritage runs deep in Detroit. The College recently financed a massive rehabilitation and redevelopment of the historic Argonaut Building. Located in Detroit's New Center, the Albert Kahn-designed facility once served as GM's first research and design studio. Now called the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education, the building constitutes a new second campus site for the College. In addition to graduate programs, the Taubman Center houses undergraduate programs in design, student living, community education and outreach activities, and a new public middle and high school with a special focus on art and design, known as the Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies.

Furthermore, the College has reorganized its existing Walter and Josephine Ford Campus in the Cultural Center. The programs of Crafts, Fine Arts, Photography, Entertainment Arts, and Illustration now have room to grow. The project transforms the institution while providing new educational opportunities for Detroit youth and advancing the renewal of the city. Close ↑