The Graduate School of Design will hold its first information workshop Thursday to recruit Harvard and Radcliffe students and to increase the number of women applicants to the Design School.

Mauries D. Kilbridge, down of the GSD, said yesterday that he hopes the workshop will also clear up the students' understanding of the recent controversies plaguing the GSD. Kilbridge said, however, that the major purpose of the workshop was to recruit applicants.

The most recent dispute at the GSD followed the release of a report in September by the Boston Office of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) charging the school with discriminating against women in faculty hiring. Eight of the 85 faculty members of the GSD are women.

Oacar W. King, instructor is City Planning and a member of the GSD Admissions Committee, said yesterday that this was the first time that committee was "actively recruiting" women and Harvard and Radcliffe applicants.

"In the past, we're sent out catalogues and information to schools all over the country, but we've never concentrated on undergraduates here." King said.

Thirty of the 500 students at the GSD this year are graduates of Harvard or Radcliffe. Since 1970, the total number of applicants to the GSD has risen, but the number from Harvard and Radcliffe has dropped, King said.

The Registrar's office said the total number of GSD applicants rose from about 620 in 1970 to 800 in 1972. The large increase was due to the GSD's accepting 100 more students in 1972 because of the more into Gund Hall a Registrar official said yesterday.

Kilbridge said that GSD admissions are done on a sex-blind basis but that since the September report from HEW, the school is "actively searching for female faculty members."

Recruitment of students for the GSD was previously done on an ad hoe basis by members of the Design School' Admissions Committee. The Committee decided in September to place one member in charge of recruitment.

"We needed to formalize our effort in this area and to we placed King in charge of recruitment." H. James Brown, assistant professor of City and Regional Planning and a member of the Committee, said yesterday.

The workshop will take the place at Gund Hall from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday Members of the GSD faculty will answer questions concerning programs and policies of the school