Loading posts...
  • Practice-led Research in Design Education

    An invited presentation at the 2019 Research and Design in Education Conference (REDES 2019) in Lisbon, Portugal, after which I had a lovely conversation with Ken Friedman (renowned author, design theorist and editor of She Ji), about the need for teaching professional practice in design education.

  • Teaching the Business of Design

    A conference presentation at the 2015 Southeastern College Art Conference, making the case for more student-run studios in design education. As a designer, working with clients can be very different from working with other designers or design professors. Students need to understand and be able to discuss business goals and strategies as easily as they…

  • Design Thinking in the Classroom

    This presentation, given at the 12th Annual Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy, discusses the results of a series of participatory workshops with groups of faculty and students that explored how design thinking might facilitate new ways of approaching course and curriculum design in order to enhance student engagement. Co-investigators: Najla Mouchrek, Program Director, Dean of…

  • Face Value: Cultural Significance of the Smiley

    My first international conference presentation, given at the 3rd International Re-Thinking Humanities and Social Sciences Conference at the University of Zadar, in Croatia. Abstract: Since its “official” creation in 1963, the cheerful, yellow-and-black Smiley has been a well-known symbol of happiness for many cultures around the world. It is important, however, to explore the reasons…