FAQ

Annual recruitment for the program begins mid-December and ends mid-February. You may apply during that time by going to the Strategic Design Fellows page on the UMD website and click on
“Apply now.”

Applying to the program

Meron Honek, SDF student, receiving advice from Strategic Design Alum Kayla Santos.

BMGT 350: Principles
of Marketing

You can still apply even if you have not taken the course yet. If chosen to be in the program, you would be cleared to take BMGT 350: Principles of Marketing course concurrently with BMGT 458A and 458Q or 458R in the fall.

Junior and senior Strategic Design Fellows preparing at the Direct Effects Capital One Competition in the fall of 2023.

Susan Hartmann, Executive Director of the College Park City-University Partnership, leads a tour of College Park's business district for the SDF class as part of their team retail project.

Please contact the faculty champion at mharms@umd.edu

Not a Smith student or a studio art major but would like to apply

Computer graphics courses

BMGT 458Q is the computer graphics course that all SDF students must take. Course work includes creating your personal brand identity, a magazine layout and a poster—all using Creative Adobe CS’s Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator. Incoming SDF students who can demonstrate proficiency in these applications will be excused from the course but are expected to take BMGT 458R.

BMGT 458R was added a few years ago to accommodate incoming students with advanced computer graphics skill sets and those in the program who after taking 458Q wanted to continue to advance their skills in this area. It is encouraged that students take the Advanced Computer Graphics course to take full advantage of the educational opportunities that this program offers. Students will learn UX/UI with Figma, create animation with After Effects and develop a digital campaign using Premiere.

Instructor Beth Bagley teaching the computer graphics course in the computer lab.

When chosen to be in the program, SDF faculty expect that you will complete BMGT 458B, the capstone course. Each year, we accept a limited number of seniors who complete the program in one semester.

Completing the program

The SDF-AMA team was among the 3rd place teams in the 2023 Wall Street Journal AMA Case Competition at the International Collegiate AMA Conference.

Attendance in class and extracurricular learning experiences

SDF faculty expect you to attend class regularly. Absences should be excused. Extracurricular learning experiences are created to enhance the SDF student experience and attendance is expected with exceptions when we travel outside of the Washington/College Park area.

SDF students will be introduced to a variety of marketing and design professionals as guest speakers and judges. SDF faculty expect students to be attentive and interactive during presentations and take advantage of these networking opportunities by showing appreciation to the guest speakers for their time and expertise that they share with the students.

FAQ