THE STORY OF
THE DEPARTMENT OF ART AND DESIGN (DAD)
The royal technical college was established in Nairobi in 1952. The first department to be created on inception was the department of architecture and art. 
A College Certificate in Architecture or art would be awarded upon successful completion of the Third Year course and examination. A Diploma in Architecture or design would be awarded by the College to students who have obtained the College Certificate and successfully completed the Fourth and Fifth Year courses and have passed the College Final Examination.
ART UNIT
This unit, which was still under the department of Art & Architecture, would prepare students for employment in artistic careers allied to commerce and industry. A first year General Art course would be followed by specialized training in Commercial Art, Industrial Design and other Applied Arts, according to the student needs.
Excellent studio facilities were available for the following proposed instruction. This referred to the workshop in current maintenance workshop, main campus.
First Year General Art Course 
Drawing
Painting
Lettering
Perspective
Modelling
Principles of Design
Introduction to the History of Art
The Second and Third Years will include:-
Life Drawing
Painting
Modelling and Carving
History of Art
Design In specialist subject
Art or Craft Techniques
A College Certificate of Proficiency would be awarded to students who successfully complete their course of study and examination.
Faculty of Art & Architecture
In 1956, the Faculty of Art and Architecturewas formed with the arrival of a Mr Derek Morgan, a British expatriate architect.
By the end of 1964, Selby Muvuzi a South Africa product designer was drawing on networks from Nairobi, where he sought funding and support to begin to teach industrial design at the University College.
By 1967, a 3 year Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts and Bachelor of Arts in Design were offered as degree courses. Admissions were by portfolio until 1975. 
From inception, the Art and Architecture courses were housed at the famous Gandhi Wing at main campus. The faculty of Art & Architecture (ADD) moved to the newly constructed ADD building in 1971.
In 1969, the Faculty of Art & architecture was split to form new departments in Kenyatta University College (KU). The Fine art program was moved together with faculty taking along with it another department from commerce called Department of Domestic Science which later became the Department of Home Science & Economics to form Kenyatta University College in 1970.
DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN
A course in fine art & design was offered right from the inauguration of the technical royal college Nairobi in 1956. The department of design (DOD)was formed in 1967. The quest for the department to be hived from the department of architecture & art had started in earnest in 1964, when Selby Muvuzi a South Africa product designer was drawing on networks from Nairobi, where he sought funding and support to begin to teach industrial design at the University College, Nairobi.
Under the architecture & Art department, it was offering a diploma in fine art and a diploma in design. It had a strong bias in product design.Mvuzi died in a car crash near Nairobi, Kenya, on 10thDecember 1967.
By 1967, a 3 year Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts and Bachelor of Arts in Design were offered as degree courses. Admissions were by portfolio until 1975.
The basic structure of BA in design was a one-year foundation course for the degree programs and a specialization (major) with subsidiaries (minors) selected for the preceding two years. On the departure to KU of the course in fine art, the department of design was now left to offer purely BA courses in graphics, textiles, illustration and interior design.
SCHOOL OF THE ARTS AND DESIGN (StAD)
The School of the Arts and Design was established in January, 2006. StAD evolved from the previous Department of Design (DoD), in the University, which had been in existence since the mid-1960s. The basic structure of StAD on establishment was a two-year foundation course for the degree programs and a specialization (major) selected from Interior design, Illustration, Textiles and fashion and Product/Industrial design.
In 2016, a new degree program in interior design was introduced. Under this program, a bachelor of Interior design is awarded after four yours of learning. Its first cohort graduated in September, 2021.
On the recent scrapping of schools and colleges in a university wide restructuring program, the process of full establishment of new programs is still ongoing under the newly reintroduced Department of Art and Design (DAD). In the offing is the proposed bachelor of Industrial/ Product design which is currently under expert review. Other future programs are envisaged to include BA visual and performing arts, BA in Industrial/ Product Design, BA in Fashion & Textile design and BA in film and communication design.
Currently, DAD is in the process of bringing on board industry players and professional bodies to enrich and support in kind and/or currency programs that respond to their needs. This process is led by the current Chairman, Dr Samuel M Maina, an erudite and prolific Product/Industrial designer.
