Design Fusion Certificate Program

Offered by the Office of Human Resources in partnership with the Joseph Ballay Center for Design Fusion

The Design Fusion Certificate Program is a week-long, hands-on experience designed to inspire creativity, strengthen collaboration and expand problem-solving skills across the university. It equips faculty, staff and administrators with proven design methods to address complex challenges, develop innovative solutions and foster a culture of creativity at CMU. Check out the program brochure [pdf] for details including session descriptions, faculty bios and testimonials from program graduates.

On this page:

• Program Goals
• Nomination Process and Criteria
• Program Format
• Session Schedule
• Past Participants:
  • Fall 2025 Cohort
  • Spring 2025 Cohort
  • Fall 2024 Cohort

Program Goals

• Build design skills for systems thinking and interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Strengthen visual communication skills to effectively share ideas with collaborators.
• Anticipate and shape emerging futures with design methods.
• Engage with pressing problems in our rapidly changing world.
• Gain the mindset and tools to innovate with purpose.
• Challenge conventional thinking with fresh perspectives.
• Join a vibrant CMU community leveraging design methods to advance their work and impact.

Nomination Process and Criteria

College and division leadership can nominate participants via CMU=You. Select the Design Fusion Program tile under Development Programs and complete the nomination form. Nomination criteria can simply be "development."

Nominations for the fall program are closed and will begin in March for the spring program.

Leaders should identify motivated team members in various roles to foster a culture of creativity and innovation that promotes both personal and organizational growth. Nominees must meet the following criteria:

• Employees at all levels, both supervisors and individual contributors, are welcome to participate
• Strong record of collaboration and consistently meets or exceeds expectations for performance at CMU
• Role responsibilities would benefit from creative problem solving
• Ability and willingness to attend all in-person activities as scheduled
• Supervisory approval for release time to participate in the program and payment of tuition ($2,250/participant)

Program Format

Participants should expect to attend in person and devote a total of 25 hours to the weeklong program with 21 hours of class time and four hours of independent work. Graduates will earn a non-degree certificate from the School of Design upon successful completion of coursework, full attendance and delivery of participant presentations.

Participants will work both individually and in teams with colleagues from across the university. Through hands-on experiences and guided exploration, they will learn design methods and creative strategies that shift perspectives and spark new approaches to complex challenges. Each cohort will focus on a university facility, service or system as a real-world case study, developing proposals for meaningful, strategic improvement.

Session Schedule

All sessions are delivered in person at the Ballay Center in the School of Design (Margaret Morrison).

Spring 2026

Date/Time	Module
May 11 4–7 p.m.	Visual Thinking
May 12 4–7 p.m.	Design Methods in Action
May 13 4–7 p.m.	Strategic Service Design
May 14 4–7 p.m.	Visual Presentation Design
May 15 9 a.m.–3 p.m.	Design Fusion in Practice
May 22 9 a.m.–noon	Participant Presentations

Fall 2025 Cohort

Spring 2025 Cohort

Fall 2024 Cohort