This program is available at the following location:

• Corvallis

Options available:

• Dean's Academy
• Sports Business

Students in the Merchandising Management program prepare for a variety of positions centered on researching, planning, and executing customer-right assortments of products and services. Graduates from this program can be found working for apparel, footwear, and hardline manufacturers as merchants who assist retailers in building product assortments, as product development coordinators who work with merchants and designers, as demand planners who predict what and how much needs to be produced for a given season, and as product creation support. They can also be found working for retailers as buyers and planners who work together to identify the right quantities and the right products to include in assortments, as merchants who work with buyers and design teams, as in-store merchandisers, and as store managers.

Major Code: 416

Upon successful completion of the program, students will meet the following learning outcomes:

• Explain how social, environmental, political, cultural, and economic systems, as well as geography relate to the planning, creation, production, merchandising, distribution, and consumption of textile, apparel, and footwear products and resulting company performance.
• Apply market research skills throughout the line planning and development process to establish line direction in terms of color, style, materials, separates/coordinates balance, and pricing.
• Development assortment plans that are in line with specific target markets, company location and/or selling format, marketplace trends, and performance goals.
• Develop merchandise budgets and analyze and update budgets to meet company performance goals.
• Use industry-relevant technology to formulate and communicate merchandising decisions.
• Apply visual and promotional strategies across different selling formats that would potentially enhance company performance.

The lower-division design core involves completion of courses within the first and second year that build a solid foundation for the upper-division merchandising curricula. The lower-division design core coursework may be completed at OSU or any accredited college or university that offers equivalent courses transferable to OSU. Students entering design programs should have basic art and illustration skills. ART 115 and ART 117 are highly recommended elective courses.

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DSGN 475 is counted twice in these requirements, once in the major and once in the Bacc Core Contemporary Global issues category, but is not double-counted in the major total

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Credits listed are minimum to fulfill Bacc Core with Design requirements overlapping. As coursework in this grouping may not satisfy both Bacc Core and Design requirements, check with advisors for best course selections to overlap and complete requirements in both groups

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Options and minors are available to provide specializations and fulfill elective credits

DESIGN CORE CURRICULUM

The design core curriculum provides students with a broad overview of design thinking and processes.

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Baccalaureate Core Course (BCC)

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Writing Intensive Course (WIC)

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The ART, COMM, ECON, MTH and WR courses listed meet the university's baccalaureate core requirements for Literature & The Arts, Western Culture, Science, Technology & Society, Speech, Social Processes & Institutions, Mathematics, and Writing. All students must meet the other Baccalaureate Core requirements and the other requirements for baccalaureate degrees

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Courses require a grade of C or higher

Merchandising Management Curriculum

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Course requires a grade of C or higher

Major Code: 416

Degree plans are subject to change and the following is only an example of how students may complete their degree in four years. Students should consult their advisor to determine the best degree plan for them. Contact details for advisors can be found on the Academic Advising page.