Dr. Carlson was Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education, located in the Office of Academic Affairs until his retirement in 2017. His faculty affiliation is in the Department of Design (in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences), and he has had concurrent appointments in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, the Department of Art, and the Department of Art Education. He has affiliated faculty status in the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design and the Center for Ergonomics in the College of Engineering. He was appointed Professor Emeritus in Design in 2017.