What our students, alumni, and faculty are doing in NYC and worldwide
thinkparsonsgrad@newschool.edu
212.229.5150 (U.S. only)
Program Contacts
Sharon Counts, Director
Evren Uzer, Associate Director
Matt Robb, Associate Director
This program can now be completed online: Applications are being accepted for the fall 2026 program start!
Bringing together design thinking, management, and applied social sciences, the graduate program in Strategic Design and Management at Parsons responds to the need for businesses and organizations to address complex 21st-century economic, environmental, and social challenges. Methods from studio practice such as ideation, ethnographic research, prototyping, and service design are used to devise approaches to business and social innovation in global contexts. You gain critical design-based skills while developing sophisticated perspectives on organizational management and strategy, financial and environmental sustainability, entrepreneurship, and ethical leadership.
Our curriculum—now available online in a synchronous format (EST)—exposes you to innovative methods for designing, managing, and improving organizations to better meet the needs of diverse stakeholders worldwide. Seminars provide you with a social and scientific grounding in design, management, and economics. In studio courses, you apply evidence-based knowledge to real-world projects, preparing you for jobs in the private, nonprofit, or public sector. Elective courses offered throughout the university enable you to gain specialized knowledge in an area of personal or professional interest.
Graduates are well positioned for careers in business, sustainability management, innovation, nonprofit and social enterprise, strategic and service design, and entrepreneurship in a wide range of industries, organizations, and professional fields. Students
who are already working can apply their learning to become "intrapreneurs" in their current workplace or advance into novel and emerging roles such as chief change officer, chief innovation officer, or lead design thinker.
Discover what our students, alumni, and faculty are doing in NYC and worldwide.
Research is integral to the Parsons learning experience, and students and faculty work together to challenge existing paradigms and advance emerging scholarship and practice. Explore the thematic research laboratories housed at Parsons and throughout The New School.
Connect to the organizations, businesses, and entrepreneurs driving global creativity and commerce. In classes, internships, and extracurricular projects, you gain marketable problem-solving skills in sectors ranging from government and nonprofits to tech and creative industries.
New York City’s thriving creative industry and cultural institutions are part of your Parsons education. Our Career Services Office is enmeshed in the art and design industries and can help you advance your career with industry-oriented internships.
Funds are earmarked for graduate travel, research, and work to support your study. Opportunities include paid teaching assistantships, research fellowships and assistantships (including ones offered throughout The New School), ample student employment, and other grants available to U.S. domestic and international students alike.
Enjoy access to extensive resources including New School libraries, computer labs, archives, and studios, along with Parsons’ state-of-the-art Making Center, facilities offering a broad array of tools to support your creative and academic growth.
A global executive version of the MS Strategic Design and Management program, designed for professionals with at least five years’ work experience, is also available.
The New School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.
