Faculty approve new design minor, quantitative economics track at faculty meeting

Princeton faculty approved a new minor in design and a quantitative economics subplan within the economics major at the May 11 faculty meeting, continuing the University’s ongoing expansion of its minors program.

The minor in design, proposed by the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education, will be open to undergraduates across all majors. The five-course program combines foundational instruction in design methods with advanced theory and a capstone portfolio project. Students will take an introductory design course, a histories and theories course spanning movements from the Bauhaus to Afrofuturism, a project-based studio course, two topical electives drawn from departments across campus, and a supervised portfolio extension project.

The Keller Center recently laid off its entire staff, which became effective in early May.

In its proposal for the minor, the Keller Center framed the program as distinct from traditional “design thinking,” instead emphasizing “deliberative change,” a process that brings humanistic critique together with practical intervention. Faculty from more than a dozen academic units, including computer science, sociology, architecture, and the Lewis Center for the Arts, will be affiliated with the program.

The School of Architecture offered its endorsement for the minor ahead of the faculty vote. “Design is a wide and vital field,” Interim Dean of the School of Architecture Sylvia Lavin wrote in a letter of support addressed to Director of the Keller Center Sigrid Adriaenssens. A “program that opens its methods, histories, and critical frameworks to students in engineering, the social sciences, the humanities, and the arts is a genuine asset,” Lavin added.

Faculty also approved a quantitative economics subplan within the economics major, which will be available for the Class of 2028 and beyond. The track formalizes a mathematically intensive pathway for students planning to pursue graduate study in economics or quantitative careers. The pathway requires completion of three core economics courses, including at least two more mathematical versions, and three quantitative electives. 

Notably, the subplan will not create new courses, but will renumber three existing 300-level electives to the 400-level to better reflect their rigor. The subplan will appear on transcripts as part of the Economics major rather than as a standalone credential.

Additionally, the faculty approved a transfer of the Statistics and Machine Learning minor from the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning to the new Data and Intelligent Systems program established last month. Senior Lecturer Daisy Yan Huang from the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning will take over as program director from philosophy professor Sarah-Jane Leslie.

The May 11 meeting was the final faculty meeting of the 2025–26 academic year. At the meeting, the faculty also approved a proposal to proctor all examinations, ending a 133-year tradition of un-proctored exams under the Honor Code.

Nora Linssen is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’ 

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