The Center for Social Design engages students in the process of problem solving and collaboration using the power of design to make a positive impact on society. Each semester, students work with a specific organization or initiative and focus on a specific objective or issue. Projects and partners change each semester. Past partners have included the Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore City Public Schools, JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Maryland Energy Administration. Past projects have focused on energy efficiency, food access, lead poisoning, HIV/AIDS, injury prevention, and health care to name a few. CSD students work alongside educators, design professionals, nonprofit and corporate organizations to research and experiment on the ways design can support project goals.

Immerses students into applied projects focused on relationship building, research, and outreach as well as exposure to and understanding of partner organizations and challenges facing the community and society in general. This hands-on course provides students with practical, collaborative, project-based opportunities and experiences outside the institution.

Studies, discusses, and debates the designer's role and responsibility in society, specifically the belief that social change can happen through design. This course is the program’s core discourse. It takes the form of lessons, discussions, readings, workshops, presentations, and critiques. The course provides students with tools, skills, and the overall awareness to address various aspects of social design and innovation. It will also prepare them to reflect on their process as they focus on the importance of research, problem identification, audience understanding, and idea development.

Engage with a spectrum of ways of making and shaping work - from formalized design processes such as human-centered design, life-centered design, and participatory design to informal ‘drivers,’ with a focus on ethics of process, collaboration, and the commons. Open to graduate and upper level undergraduate students from all degree programs. Required for MASD students; open to all graduate students as an elective

Immerses students into applied thesis work focused on process, research, and outreach as well as exposure to and understanding of partners/stakeholders and root causes of the challenges facing community and society in general. This hands-on course provides students with practical, collaborative, project-based opportunities and experiences outside the institution.

With a global perspective firmly rooted in Baltimore City, develop a deeper understanding of the issues of equity, power, race and privilege to think about social problems in a structured way. Open to graduate and upper level undergraduate students from all degree programs.

Examine the work, projects and practices of designers, artists and activists to understand potential models for positive social engagement and impact - supplemented by in-class visits and discussion with local and international practitioners. Open to graduate and upper level undergraduate students from all degree programs.