Planning and Designing for the Future

Cincinnati has a rich history of being an entrepreneurial city. With such major corporations and global players as Procter & Gamble, Kroger and Macy’s, the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati, is as an integral source of creative power for these companies and other organizations and the city itself. 

DAAP and its students and alumni have made major  contributions to the revitalization downtown, exercises in urban planning and incubations of small businesses. 

“DAAP is a comprehensive school for design, architecture, art and planning. Incorporating all disciplines under one roof is relatively unique,” says Robert Probst, dean of the college. “We cultivate an ideal configuration, or constellation, of all design disciplines, of art disciplines and of planning disciplines.” 

Access to outside disciplines at UC, such as business, science, music and medicine gives DAAP students a wide variety of industry connections, building a competitive edge in professional markets upon graduation.

One of DAAP’s biggest assets is its selective student body. “We select students based off of academic standing and not just on their portfolio,” Probst says. “We take the smartest students that know what they want.” 

With one of the highest retention rates on campus – more than 95 percent – 75 percent of students graduate with a job. This is helped by the Education Professional Practice program that fosters a supportive network of industry partners. DAAP’s co-op program allows students to alternate professional practice and academic practice after their first year until graduation. Many will graduate with five semesters of paid professional practice. Many will work locally, then regionally, nationally and internationally with companies such as Kroger, Macy’s, Luxottica, General Motors, Google and Samsung among others.

DAAP launched the Live Well Collaborative, a nonprofit specializing in the research and development of products geared towards the 50 years of age and older market in 2007 in conjunction with Procter & Gamble. 

“Big industry is in discrete areas, in ordinary clothes and instruments,” Probst says. 

The collaborative asks questions such as how do they live, how do they clothe themselves, communicate, travel, socialize and connect with the world? “The 50-plus market is the fastest growing and most wealthy. They are retired, at the end of their career, they all have savings, and they all have growing needs, but nobody caters to them.” 

This is just one of the fields that DAAP is exploring on its own and with its local partners. The college is positioned to help its students – the next generation of workers – find ways to improve life going forward, not only in its home of Cincinnati but also around the world.

University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning is located at 5470 Aronoff, Cincinnati, OH 45221. For more information call 513.556.4933 or visit their website at daap.uc.edu.