“Learning is how you acquire new information about the world, and memory is how you store that information over time.”
I build my teaching around learning experiences that stick, the kind of memories that turn into lifelong skills, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving.
I want my classroom to be interactive, open to discussion, and responsive to students’ questions. I encourage students to take ownership of their learning and to develop their own strategies for solving design challenges, so their education doesn’t end when class does. To support that, I bring in current scholarly research, set clear objectives for every course, and use assessments that measure both conceptual understanding and practical skill. Students build new ideas on what they already know, learn from one another, practice real designer workflows, and take part in community-based projects, including client-driven and experiential work.
Conceptual problem solving comes first. I help students develop critical, analytical, and perceptual skills, and through experimentation they build a vocabulary of fundamental design principles. Then they apply it in real-world contexts such as UI/UX, branding, motion graphics, and packaging. Balancing theory with studio practice pushes students to conceptualize, formulate, and communicate ideas with more confidence. Reflection, critique, and analysis, in lectures and in hands-on projects alike, reinforce that growth and prepare students to contribute in professional and collaborative settings.
I am deeply committed to connecting students with local and global creative communities through workshops, client collaborations, and internships. Beyond technical proficiency and conceptual depth, I hope students leave with a lasting appreciation for design and the adaptability to become innovative, socially engaged designers.
In the end, an educator’s job is to cultivate critical thinking and creative exploration, and to give students the skills to keep learning for life. I want them to graduate with a foundation of knowledge, experience, and confidence that carries them through their careers.
I design my courses around a classroom that helps people learn. Students don’t all learn the same way, so I use a mix of teaching styles and provide appropriate accommodations whenever a student needs them.
I look for methods that respond to multiple intelligences. Assignments start from clear lesson objectives, and feedback from students and their peers helps me refine the process as we go. I also frame how information is presented around Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Every course draws on these teaching strategies:
lecture, cooperative learning, direct instruction, discovery, and discussion.
CREATIVITY NOW IS AS IMPORTANT IN EDUCATION AS LITERACY AND WE SHOULD TREAT IT WITH THE SAME STATUS.
Sir Ken Robinson
Building the skills students need to thrive in a changing world.
Preparing students for an age of knowledge work.
Conceptual and creative thinking.
Every student walks into my classroom with a different set of experiences, perspectives, abilities, and ways of thinking, and my teaching starts there. I have taught at both public and private universities, and my students have come from a wide range of educational, cultural, and personal backgrounds. Those differences make the classroom better. They push students to question their assumptions, take unfamiliar perspectives seriously, and find their own voices as designers.
I believe people learn by experimenting, talking things through, and discovering together. My classroom makes room for individual expression, and it runs on mutual respect, collaboration, and critique that is honest and constructive. I ask students to think about how their work communicates visually, and also about who it speaks to, whose perspectives it represents, and how design shapes the way people understand the world.
I like to build projects that connect design to bigger social, cultural, and environmental questions. One of my favorites started away from the studio, with a visit to a local landfill. Employees walked my students through how waste is managed and how much material is thrown away every day. It is one thing to know that number and another to stand in front of it, and that experience became the starting point for everything that followed.
Back in the studio, students collected discarded materials and built masks from them. I revealed the project in stages on purpose, so they didn’t know where it was headed. They had to make decisions without a clear picture of the outcome, work with materials they wouldn’t normally choose, and trust the process. Only later did they bring those forms into informational design pieces about waste and consumption. I’ll admit I wasn’t sure at the start that it would come together. Then the conversation in the room changed. Students talked about waste differently, and they started to see their own design choices as part of the same system. Eventually they began a campaign to develop recycling on campus. The project showed me that when students are given room to explore, and their own way of seeing is treated as part of the assignment, their work can reach well beyond the classroom.
Other projects have taken on tolerance, cultural identity, media representation, and the ecological responsibilities of designers. Through research, discussion, and visual experimentation, students look at how design choices shape perceptions and carry different points of view. We also study contemporary artists and designers from many backgrounds, which widens students’ visual references and gets them to rethink the usual ways of solving a creative problem.
In the end, my job is to create a space where students feel supported and are also challenged to move past what is comfortable. I want them to leave with strong technical skills and portfolios, and also with the curiosity, empathy, and critical judgment to communicate thoughtfully with diverse audiences and to give something back to their communities.
“I teach the way I design—through curiosity, experimentation, questioning, and the belief that meaningful work begins with understanding perspectives beyond our own.”