NewsNews, talks, and happenings from life as a design educator and practitioner, informed by process, curiosity, intelligent mistakes, and thoughtful experimentation.
Fall 2025 National Museum of Industrial History (NMIH) x Art, Architecture & Design (AAD)
The National Museum of Industrial History (NMIH), a Smithsonian affiliate, celebrates America’s industrial achievements and the accomplishments of its workers, innovators, and entrepreneurs through public exhibitions and events. Within its vast collection, the museum maintains on-site letterpress workshops.
I had the opportunity to take my Introductory Graphic Design studio class—part of Lehigh’s Department of Art, Architecture and Design (AAD)—to NMIH’s press room to learn how to set and print metal type by hand. Sessions were led by Katie Rymon, Manager of Education & Public Programming, and Tom Necker, Exhibits & Education Specialist, followed by a vintage Heidelberg printing demonstration by Frank Sattler, Museum Preparator. Students held type history in their hands as they experienced how designers composed pages from that era and made real-time connections to typographic terminology still in use today.
Oct 28, 2025 Structure Agency Visit
Alex Cook, founder and creative director of Structure, a local branding agency in Allentown, welcomed students from my advanced design studio class.
Students were presented with case studies of Structure’s award-winning work, introduced to client interaction techniques, participated in role-playing business scenarios, and explored strategies for realizing their own financial self-worth. The session wrapped up with a Q&A providing an inside look at how an internal design team collaborates to respond to client briefs.
Summer 2025Youth Design Camp at The Baum
I had the wonderful opportunity to lead a week-long youth graphic design summer camp for students ages 12 to 17 at The Baum School of Art in downtown Allentown, Pennsylvania. Projects ranged from identity and semiotics to editorial design, introducing students to the design process and problem-solving through research and investigation.
The camp brought together a diverse group of students from the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas, offering a studio environment for creative interaction and collaboration. The Baum School is a nonprofit visual arts school that provides outreach to students with limited access to the arts.
May 19 – 21, 2025UCDA Design Education Summit: Mindful
I was invited to the UCDA Design Education Summit at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to present a lecture titled Mind the Gaps: Creating Pathways for Nontraditional Learners through Intervention, which shared my experience with first-generation, nontraditional design students and the EXTRA lecture series I developed to address curriculum gaps and foster social and economic mobility.
I also led a Signs, Symbols, and Semiotics workshop, where participants explored visual language with rebuses, pictograms, and ideograms, creating narratives through hands-on printmaking.
Spring 2025Young Ones Type Directors Club Juror
I am honored to represent Lehigh University as a juror for the 2025 Young Ones Type Directors Club (TDC) Awards, a prestigious competition organized by The One Club for Creativity.
The awards celebrate emerging talent in creative disciplines, particularly in type design and typographic storytelling. By supporting students and early-career professionals worldwide, The One Club provides a platform to recognize the next generation of creative leaders.
Spring 2025Lehigh University Art Galleries (LUAG) x Fusion Design
As part of an ongoing commitment to experiential learning, I taught a Fusion: Design Practice course in partnership with Lehigh University Art Galleries (LUAG).
Students developed a centennial mark and exhibition design, Here and Now, celebrating LUAG’s 100th anniversary. Working with LUAG’s marketing team, faculty, and community members, the course emphasized research-driven design through interviews and focus groups, resulting in a cohesive identity reflecting LUAG’s mission and community commitment.
