About
The National Conference on the Beginning Design Student
The National Conference on the Beginning Design Student (NCBDS) is a national peer-reviewed scholarly gathering dedicated to the study and practice of beginning design education. For over 40 years, the NCBDS has provided a forum for design educators to present papers and projects and to hold discussions related to introductory design issues.
The NCBDS’s origins reside in a small gathering entitled Beginnings. This gathering, held in 1972 at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and organized by Tim McGinty and Gerry Gast, brought together, for the first time, design educators to discuss introductory design education. Just over a decade later, after a second gathering held in 1983 at Cranbrook Academy, the first Beginning Design Conference was held in 1984 at Arizona State University. Since that conference in Arizona, the NCBDS has been and continues to be the primary venue for discussion about the practice of and research into beginning design.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the NCBDS’s longevity is that the conference has no formal organizational structure. It has no president, no treasurer, and no dues. Instead, the conference has a dedicated community of beginning design educators whose interest in the educational challenges and attendant pedagogies, projects, and curricular strategies associated with beginning design propel the conference.
The conference welcomes new faculty to attend and participate. This event provides opportunities for mentorship, collaboration, networking, and presentation of research and pedagogical methods within an inclusive environment.
Abstracts for papers and projects are blind-reviewed for acceptance, full papers and projects are presented at the conference, and proceedings of the papers and posters are published with an ISBN.
Read more about the history of NCBDS.
Oklahoma State University School of Architecture
The conference will be held at the Oklahoma State School of Architecture (SOA). The school was established in 1909, having trained architects, engineers, and designers for over 115 years. The SOA is the academic home to over 500 students and 17 faculty and resides in the Donald W. Reynolds Architecture Building. The school is a part of the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology on the Oklahoma State University (OSU) campus in Stillwater, Oklahoma and a key contributor to the university’s mission. Originally called Oklahoma Territorial Agricultural & Mechanical (A&M) College, today OSU is an R1 research university retaining its focus and expertise in the agricultural and engineering disciplines.
