Mission

The AIGA Design Educators community seeks to enhance the abilities of design educators and educational institutions to prepare future designers for excellence in design practice, design theory and design writing at the undergraduate and graduate levels while supporting the fundamental mission of the AIGA.

Background

The AIGA Design Educators community was established to support the unique activities and responsibilities of the design educator at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels in a wide variety of institutional settings. The goals of this community are to: facilitate communication among design educators; create, foster and promote dialogue; produce design education events such as conferences and competitions; present current research and teaching methods; establish standards for design education; differentiate between design’s various subdisciplines; raise the level of design-driven thinking in schools across the country; and communicate the value of design education to the larger profession.

Subjects of interest to this community span teaching, research and service. They include curriculum and program development, design theory and history, methodology, typography, usability research, and the social roles of designers, as well as tenure, promotion, teaching standards and school accreditation.

In order to encourage academic participation, AIGA Design Educators requires no community participation fee beyond the basic AIGA membership fee. Participation in the community is open and encouraged for anyone interested in design education issues, you do not have to be an educator.

AIGA seeks active dedicated educators and practitioners to provide service and leadership on its Design Educators Community Steering Committee. Nominations are announced annually. The next round of nominations will be announced in 2009 for two-year positions starting in August 2009. 

Minimum qualifications for consideration to AIGA’s Design Educators Steering Committee are: experience in teaching visual, communication, or graphic design, or a related field of study, at the college or university level. All applicants must be current AIGA members with some experience with local chapter board leadership or committee service. 
 
Committee members meet once a month for a conference call and annually for a retreat. Members are expected to lead an initiative that will benefit the Design Educators Community.

Louise Sandhaus
Committee Chairperson
Faculty, Graphic Design Program
California Institute of the Arts
sandhaus [at] calarts [dot] edu

Mara Jevera Fulmer
Associate Professor/Program
Coordinator, Graphic Design
C.S. Mott Community College
mara [dot] fulmer [at] esmail [dot] mcc [dot] edu

Brockett Horne
Co-Chair, Graphic Design 
Maryland Institute College of Art
brocketthorne [at] hotmail [dot] com

Scott Hutchinson
Program Director of Visual Arts
UCLA Extension
shutchin [at] unex [dot] ucla [dot] edu

Sarah Lowe
Associate professor
University of Tennessee
slowe [at] utk [dot] edu

Paul J. Nini
Professor Department of Industrial, Interior, and Visual Communication Design
The Ohio State University
nini [dot] 1 [at] osu [dot] edu

Stacie Rohrbach
Assistant Professor
Communication Design, School of Design
Carnegie Mellon University
slr [at] andrew [dot] cmu [dot] edu

Rukmini Ravikumar
Assistant Chair
Director, MFA in Design
Assistant Professor, Graphic Design
University of Central Oklahoma
rravikumar [at] ucok [dot] edu

Barbara Sudick
Associate Professor
Communication Design, School of Design
Carnegie Mellon University
bsudick [at] andrew [dot] cmu [dot] edu

Dori Tunstall
Associate Professor of Design Anthropology
School of Art + Design
University of Illinois at Chicago
godiva [dot] enteract [at] rcn [dot] com

Holly Willis
Institute for Multimedia Literacy
School of Cinematic Arts
University of Southern California
hwillis [at] cinema [dot] usc [dot]edu

Laurie Churchman, Committee Chairperson
Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania
lchurchm at design dot upenn dot edu

Carolina de Bartolo, Treasurer
Instructor
Graphic Design Department
Academy of Art University
carolinadebartolo at earthlink dot net

Brockett Horne
Co-Chair, Graphic Design
Maryland Institute College of Art
brocketthorne at hotmail dot com

Fred Murrell
Chair, Graphic Design + Interactive Media,
Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design
fmurrell at rmcad dot edu

Joseph Quackenbush
Associate Professor of Design
Massachusetts College of Art
joe at jamdesign dot com

Robert P. Sedlack, Jr.
Assistant Professor of Design
Department of Art, Art History + Design
University of Notre Dame
rsedlack at nd dot edu

Deborah Shmerler
Associate Professor Graphic Design
The University of Tennessee School of Art
dshmerle at utk dot edu

Christopher Vice
Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University
chvice at iupui dot edu

Matt Greenwell
Head, Department of Art
matt-greenwell at utc dot edu

Brian Lucid
Associate Professor of Design
Massachusetts College of Art
lucidmedia at yahoo dot com

Daniela Marx
Loyola University
marxthespot at cox dot net

Jen McKnight
University Of Missouri St. Louis
mcknightj at umsl dot edu
jen_mcknight at hotmail dot com

Frank Baseman
Philadelphia University

Leslie Becker
California College of Art, San Francisco

Meredith Davis
AIGA Medalist and North Carolina State University

Steven Heller
AIGA Medalist and SVA, NY

Marcia Lausen
AIGA national board and University of Illinois at Chicago

Kathy McCoy
AIGA Medalist

Doug Powell
AIGA national board and Minneapolis

Liz Resnick
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston