The editors of Design Research News invite you to participate in an unusual on-line conference titled "Design in the University." The conference will convene on the PhD-Design list to examine the issues, challenges, and problems of planning university level design education. What makes this conference unusual is the fact that the keynote "speakers" will focus on a specific project: the proposal for a new school of design at the University of California, Irvine. In the fall of 2000, the University of California at Irvine established a committee to develop a proposal for a new design school. Their mandate was to plan a school balancing inquiry into the nature of design and the design process with training in professional design practice. To write its report and guide the university debate, the committee studied today's leading design schools while working with a wide range of experts to plan the university-level design school of the future. The committee faced two major challenges. One was economic. The new design school would have to contribute to the economic growth and prosperity of a complex multi-cultural state positioned at the edge of the increasingly important economy of the larger Pacific region. The second challenge was quality - conceptual, intellectual, and professional. The new school must further and advance the work of one of the world's great universities, enhancing the university while drawing on its resources. After two years of work studying everything from design programs and best practices in curriculum planning to demographic trends and professional development, the committee delivered its report. The June 2003 issues of Design Research News reviewed the report: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/design-research.html The report is available in free .pdf download at http://www.evc.uci.edu/growth/design/SoD-proposal.pdf This on-line conference offers you an opportunity to meet the committee, to reflect on the questions they asked, and to ask questions of your own. Speakers at the on-line conference will include committee chairman professor Richard Taylor of information and computer science, professors Kristen Day and Sanjoy Mazumdar of urban and regional planning, professor Alladi Venkatesh of management, as well as Michael Clark, professor of English and comparative literature and associate executive vice chancellor for academic planning. Respondents include professors Lorraine Justice, head of industrial design at Georgia Technical University, Keith Russell of Newcastle University in Australia, Charles Burnette of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Christene Nippert-Eng of Illinois Institute of Technology, and David Durling of Staffordshire University. The conference open on November 10, convened by Ken Friedman of the Norwegian School of Management and Denmark's Design School. Following a brief introduction, Prof. Taylor will lead off and Prof. Justice will respond. This will be followed by two or three brief invited comments. The floor will then be open for conversation among the speakers. At this point, any conference participant will be free to ask questions or to offer comments. The first session will last for four days. The second session will open with Prof. Day, following a similar four-day format. Prof. Mazumdar will speak third, followed by Prof. Venkatesh. Vice Chancellor Clark will speak last. This conference offers participants a chance to benefit from the three-year process of research and development at the University of California, Irvine. In today's economic climate, few universities - and fewer design schools - will have the budgetary resources to build (or rebuild) design education on the level of a new purpose-built school. What this conference offers to existing schools is an opportunity to learn from improvements and changes implemented elsewhere, adapting them to local needs and opportunities as they shape programs for the future. To participate in this conference, please go to URL http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/phd-design.html Click on the line that reads Join or leave the list Follow the on-screen instructions to join. We hope you will join us in what promises to be an extraordinary on-line event with speakers and participants from around the world. David Durling and Ken Friedman