A pioneer in art and design education since its founding in 1896, Parsons has cultivated outstanding artists, designers, scholars, businesspeople, and community leaders for more than a century. Today, when design thinking is increasingly being employed to solve complex global problems, Parsons is leading new approaches to art and design education.
At Parsons, a diverse community of students develops critical thinking skills and applies them to challenges ranging from environmental degradation to physical accessibility and humanitarian crises. Through a network of interconnected design laboratories, students explore global phenomena at multiple sites and scales of engagement, from on-campus research initiatives to partnerships that affect change in New York and around the world.