Montana State named one of top design schools in U.S.

BOZEMAN - Graphic Design USA recently named Montana State University one of the top design schools in the nation.

MSU received recognition in April for cultivating innovation and critical thinking skills in its students, who leave MSU equipped to make a lasting impact in the graphic design field. MSU is one of 78 universities awarded for championing personal, professional and societal growth in design. Earlier this year, GDUSA also selected three MSU seniors from the College of Arts and Architecture to receive design awards.

"With more than 60 years of recognizing excellence in American graphic design, GDUSA's acknowledgment carries real significance, and we're proud to be among the universities named as top design schools," said William Culpepper, assistant professor of graphic design, who spearheads MSU submissions to GDUSA. "That pride deepens knowing three of our graduating seniors earned individual design awards this year, alongside Sasha Maguire's selection as a Student to Watch. Together, these honors affirm that the design work and thinking coming out of MSU's graphic design program, shaped by strong faculty mentorship and an ever-evolving curriculum, is relevant at a national level."

MSU's graphic design degree gives students experience in both digital and hand-printed media, with courses including motion graphics, sustainable design, printmaking and guerilla advertising. Instructors balance illustration art with the principles of business and marketing, connecting coursework to the professional world, said graphic design instructor Grace Washko.

In Washko's spring packaging design class, she introduced students to Julia Hammerer, senior art director of global brand partnerships for the brand Crocs, who reviewed their mockup shoe boxes and brand packages. Washko is Crocs' art director for licensing package design, alongside her teaching role. She said having one foot in the real world and one foot in academia is a leg up for her students breaking into the industry.

"Graphic design is a massive world, right?" Washko said. "We design things from billboards to light projections to your CatCard. It's inextricable from the life that we all live. For everyone in MSU's graphic design department to provide a different lens into that for our students is really, really special."

This effort is not lost on students, said Nick Schneider, a junior from Billings studying graphic design with a minor in business entrepreneurship. He receives at least one email a week from professors identifying organizations that need freelance graphic design work or on-campus opportunities, such as MSU's annual Gold Rush T-shirt design contest in advance of its home-opener football game - Schneider was a finalist last year.

"The graphic design program is really good about finding local people who need work done," he said. "They're helping you do the professional stuff and break into the industry instead of sitting back and letting you figure it out."

Culpepper connected Schneider to his current internship for MSU Athletics. Schneider has created more than 140 graphics this semester - spanning several teams' Instagram accounts and jumbotron displays during games - and he'll continue working for MSU Athletics through the summer into his senior year. After graduating next year, he hopes to work for a professional athletics team.

Emma Poole, a senior graphic design major from Rifle, Colorado, said the graphic design program shaped her career goals, sparking her dream to work for an agency that develops brand identities for other organizations. She came to college without any graphic design experience and will leave having completed multiple internships, on-campus design work and a term as a senator for the Associated Students of MSU. On May 1, she finished her most recent internship with Bozeman's Blue Collar Restaurant Group, where she helped rebrand The Well Juicery's website and provided art direction for its photoshoots.

Poole also won a national GDUSA award in 2025 with her smartwatch app for outdoor recreationists. She credits her professors with motivating her to submit work to competitions and reach for "lofty goals." This support was especially meaningful, she said, as a first-generation student whose immediate family members do not have four-year degrees.

"I don't think anything can really prepare you for that culture shock of being on a large university campus for the first time, but my biggest support system has been my parents and my professors," Poole said.

Within the School of Art, students also discover the impact of graphic design on the community.

In March, 20 students designed and auctioned skateboards alongside more than 40 local artists and 30 high school students to raise funds for the Ennis Lions Club Skatepark and Skate Alliance of Montana. Proceeds from the 2026 Deck Show, organized and co-curated by professor Jeffrey Conger and Patrick Hoffman, head of Bozeman High School's art department, totaled $13,556.

In 2024, MSU students' impact expanded statewide. Students instructed by assistant teaching professor Bruce Barnhart designed a 988+1 suicide prevention coin minted by the state of Montana, which is listed among states with high suicide rates in veteran communities, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The state distributed 100 coins to military veterans across Montana to help them start conversations with fellow service members in distress.

"There are few limits to what design can do at MSU," said Josh DeWeese, School of Art director. "I'm so proud of our faculty and students who represented our program on a national scale with recognition from GDUSA this year."