Brianna Fox

I truly do not understand why the Administration is deciding to cancel the Industrial Design Program after 15 years of development. It is the bridging gap between MSU's Fine Art and budding STEM Programs. Throwing the ID Program in the garbage is counter-productive considering your STEM students would benefit considerably from interacting and collaborating with your Product Designers considering that's how things function in real life.

Thanks to the ID program when I graduated MSU (2009) during the recession I was able to find a job right away as a staff Industrial Designer for SDI Technologies for 12 years working on Consumer Electronics.

I worked for an endless list of big licensed brands and soon was our Lucasfilm lead CE designer. With enough experience built up I am now working on my own business.

I started my BFA at MSU with no direction, looked into screenwriting and eventually settled to Graphic Design because I didn't want to be a starving artist and that's what my parents did.

I soon realized Graphic Design was becoming incredibly saturated as a profession and I had a passion for problem solving and building in 3D so I was so relieved when ID came to MSU.

Going out of state for a program like this is ridiculously expensive and we were so lucky to get a Director who had trained from one of the most prestigious Industrial Design schools in the world. I immediately saw how disappointed he was because of the crop of students he received. Haha! I was in Dr. Feigler's first class, but we all needed the kick in the rear to do better and we did! He was tough but fair and the majority of us found jobs in our field, which is not an easy feat.

Please think about the students that can't afford to go out of state to pursue this very fulfilling and desirable profession. The Industrial Design Program should not be cancelled but simply maneuvered into part of the STEM program's funding while maintaining it's separate identity. We have really developed an amazing professional community it would be such a shame to stop it when it could grow even bigger.

Sincerely a concerned alumnus,

Brianna Fox

2009 IDSA Student Merit Award Winner from Montclair State, Dean's Scholar/Artist Award nominee