ArtCenter Launches Minor in Social Innovation

Beginning this summer, students will be able to enroll in a new minor in Social Innovation, through the popular Designmatters department. The move is in response to an increased demand for the specialization among undergraduate students for mastery in skills and competencies to work in public and private sector organizations where the strategic role of design is increasingly being valued.

“It is very meaningful to satisfy the demand for this dynamic curriculum and meet the needs of our impressive students who are passionate about social innovation and dedicated to making a positive difference on society locally and globally,” said Mariana Amatullo, Ph.D., co-founder and vice president, Designmatters Department.

“Design for social innovation represents a vivid domain of human knowledge that ignites a boundless sense of possibility about a brighter future,” Amatullo continued. “By implementing a minor in the field, we provide students with a specialized toolkit of skills based on experiential learning gained by tackling real-world, real-time issues that highlight the role of art and design in catalyzing social-innovation outcomes.”

Candidates for the minor are students who crave the mastery of multidisciplinary skills and the collaborative mindset needed to propel innovation at such prestigious companies and organizations as UNICEF, IBM, Samsung and many more.

Examples of award-winning work conceived by students excelling in design for social innovation include:

· Environmental Design student Alvin Oei travels this month to Santiago, Chile to implement his concept for a children’s burn clinic to guide patients and their families through an improved treatment and healing experience. Oei’s The Healing Tree, is a result of his participation in ArtCenter’s Designmatters Safe Niños transdisciplinary studio with COANIQUEM, a world leader in the rehabilitation of pediatric burn victims.

· Safe Agua is a multi-year design and research initiative that has yielded a number of innovative products and services created by ArtCenter students to help families overcome water poverty in Chile, Peru and Colombia.

· Es Tiempo is a multi-faceted communications campaign, in partnership with the USC Keck School of Medicine and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, to raise awareness and support for the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer among Latinas living in Los Angeles.

· Flo developed for young girls in third world countries dealing with the challenges of menstruation without proper sanitary products, is the result of the ArtCenter Designmatters’ Girl Effect studio. The collaboration with Yale School of Management was based on field research from Fuseproject and Nike Foundation.

· Where’s Daryl is a violence and gun prevention teacher-toolkit created in collaboration the Los Angeles Unified School District and designed to serve a diverse population of at-risk youth.

Initially, the minor will be offered in six departments that have a significant population of students with interest in the specialization. Those departments are Graphic Design, Interaction Design, Product Design, Environmental Design, Illustration and Fine Art. Students from other majors will be able to apply on a case-by-case basis.

The minor formalizes and expands upon an existing Designmatters concentration launched in 2010. The new specialization offers students a curriculum comprised of 21 units designed to be completed within the time typically required to obtain a degree.

Students seeking the minor will enroll in a mix of studio courses, transdisciplinary studio requirements and courses in the Humanities and Sciences.

Designmatters recently published the collective wisdom of 84 game changers in the field of social innovation in a new book. LEAP Dialogues: Career Pathways for Designers in Social Innovation is the first publication of its kind to present a comprehensive overview of new professional pathways to successful and meaningful careers as experienced first-hand by a who’s who of respected thought leaders (practitioners, researchers and educators) who are making seminal contributions to the field.

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This week at ArtCenter

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

11:30 am: DJI Drone Demo featuring Claudio Miranda, ASC (LIFE OF PI)
Los Angeles Times Media Center, Hillside Campus

Join esteemed cinematographer Claudio Miranda, ASC as he demos the latest in drone and gimbal technology from DJI. Mr.

DJI will hold a flying demo featuring an assortment of their drones in the sculpture garden at 12:15pm, immediately after Mr. Miranda’s talk.

This event is open to the entire ArtCenter community!

7:30 pm: Graduate Seminar Lecture Series: Jan Tumlir presents Mathias Poledna
Los Angeles Times Media Center, Hillside Campus

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

12:00–1:00 pm: Yoga
Sinclaire Pavilion (Room 201 if raining or excessively cold), Hillside Campus

Free and open to the entire ArtCenter community. Mats are available for checkout in the CSE office.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

1:00–2:00 pm: Yoga
Building Lobby or Room 101, 870 Building, South Campus

Mats are available for checkout in the CSE at Hillside.

Friday, March 31, 2017

4:00–6:00 pm: ArtCenter Student Government Meeting
Room 201, Hillside Campus

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Knowledge is power: A Transportation Design student’s journey from Zimbabwe to ArtCenter

This story first appeared in Dot magazine.

One day, when then 6-year-old future Transportation Design student Thokozani Mabena was playing with friends in the shanty town where he grew up, in authoritarian-ruled Zimbabwe, he was drawn to a magazine he spotted near some trash bins.

Poring through the magazine, Mabena saw an article showcasing a Japanese designer who conceptualized the Nissan Z sports car. The article also featured a big, round, bright orange dot. Mabena didn’t know, during that pivotal moment of curiosity, that the dot represented ArtCenter, but he instinctively liked the article’s gorgeously vivid car design sketches.

“I’ve been sketching since I was 3. I was like, ‘Wow, maybe this is something I could do one day!’ and I just stored the thought in my memory bank,” said Mabena. “I didn’t know what a classic car was. I knew public transportation. I rode in carriages, pulled by a donkey. One time I rode an actual bull. Sometimes we had to walk long distances. Sometimes we took a truck with an open bed, and stood for hours. We rode bicycles, and in trains, buses, and then cars.”

Three decades after first seeing that ArtCenter dot, Mabena—who came to the United States in 2006 as a refugee—is now set to graduate this term, and will debut his ArtCenter Grad Show thesis project Airbnb-GO on April 20.

Continue reading →

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Faculty Council announces Spring Teaching Advancement Awards

On Friday, March 17, the Faculty Council announced the 2017 Spring Teaching Advancement Award recipients. Teaching Advancement Awards offer faculty the opportunity to receive up to $1,000 to support a range of activities that enhance their knowledge as an educator and benefit students in classrooms and studios. A total of $3,000 is available to be disbursed each term to successful applicants for research, conferences, workshops, exhibitions and related travel expenses that are not covered by departmental classroom support.

The Spring 2017 recipients are:

Jessica Rath from Humanities and Sciences and Elise Co from Product and Interaction Design received a grant to participate in MIT’s Being Material symposium.
Doug Eboch from Film received a grant to participate in the Writers Guild of America, Craft Conference for screenwriters.
Fridolin Beisert from Product Design to attend IDEO U’s Leading for Creativity course.
Dahlia Schweitzer to attend the 2017 Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) conference.

Faculty Council will be accepting applications for Summer 2017 TAA grants early in the Summer Term. All faculty are encouraged to apply. Please contact facultycouncil@artcenter.edu for more information.

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Human Resources (HR) Delivers on Training Programs in 2016: Seeking Input for 2017 Programming

Employers recognize that a well-trained workforce is key to customer satisfaction, organizational success and building effective teams. ArtCenter is committed to developing and implementing training and development programs for its employees.

When Vice President of Human Resources Lisa M. Sanchez took over the chief HR role in 2015, one of her first priorities was to provide professional development training for employees. “A change in our Employee Assistance Program provider created a wonderful benefit and opportunity to implement training at ArtCenter. And under the direction of our new Assistant Vice President of Human Resources Tracy Kerr, she was able to effectively roll out a training series for staff and management,” said Sanchez.

From August 2016 to January 2017, HR offered topic-specific programs for staff and management on subjects such as financial management, customer service, leadership, interpersonal communication and managing conflict. ArtCenter-specific workshops on completing performance reviews and job description questionnaires were also offered. Still to come is a very important management training program on the basics of managing people. This program will include responsibilities of a manager, supervising staff time and attendance, overtime, performance management, protected leaves, diversity and Title IX issues and strategic thinking.

“HR is pleased to have partnered with the campus community to bring these training programs to our staff and that they have been well received. We look forward to working with the campus on future programs and are currently seeking feedback from the community on what they would like to see offered. We invite everyone to complete a brief survey regarding future training topics,” remarked Kerr.

The training sessions were well attended by both staff and managers. Many employees were pleased not only with the opportunity to learn from the workshops but also for the opportunity to talk with others across the campus.

Here is what people are saying about attending the trainings:

“[I liked] being able to interact and share experiences with peers and the facilitator in a safe, guided environment.”—Staff Participant
“I’ve worked as a supervisor at ArtCenter for five years now and have always wanted more formal and frequent training on best practices in supervising/management. I’m happy to see HR increasing its role as a trainer.” —Supervisor Participant

Questions or suggestions? Please complete the survey and feel free to contact Kerr at tracy.kerr@artcenter.edu.

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Board of Trustees Sets Tuition Rates for Fiscal Year 2018

At its recent meeting in February, the Board of Trustees set tuition rates for the next Fiscal Year. Effective Fall 2017, the tuition rates for full-time Undergraduate degree students will be $20,704 per semester; full time graduate student tuition will be $21,881 per semester; part-time undergraduate and graduate tuition will be $1,726 per unit and $1,824 per unit respectively. The Universal Access Fee for all students will be $300. Tuition rates will remain in effect for Spring and Summer 2018.

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Fresh Food Round the Clock at South Campus

Micro markets are now open and serving food 24/7 in the 950 and 870 buildings at South Campus. There are plenty of food options at the 950 micro market, located on the mezzanine. You can choose from sandwiches, salads and other fresh food that is prepared daily and stocked twice a day. There are also a number of frozen food options, including entrée items, White Castle burgers, breakfast sandwiches and frozen burritos. There are two coffee machines, one offering regular coffee and one offering espresso-style drinks. The espresso machine uses Peet’s Coffee that is fresh ground for each drink and it makes a mighty tasty cappuccino. There is also a wide candy selection, plenty of snack options and a number of ice cream choices. The micro market is a grab-and-go operation, where you select your choices and pay at a self-serve machine, similar to a grocery line self-pay. You can use your credit card or load cash onto a special micro market card.

The micro market at the 870 Building is smaller, almost a mini-micro market, but still offers fresh food items, cold beverage selections and a coffee machine. You will need to use a credit card to obtain your items, with payment based on a system of weights and measures.

Both micro markets are accessible 24/7 so you can choose your favorite midnight snack to get you through your latest project. But don’t grab and walk off without paying because the micro markets are monitored round the clock with video surveillance.

These micro markets are welcome additions to our South Campus, where the food offerings were slim for students studying into and through the night. Sodexo is maintaining the markets and is open to suggestions for items to be included.

Please send your thoughts to catering@artcenter.edu and make sure to note that the suggestion is for items to be carried in the South Campus micro markets.

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Interns Tell All

Internships are often seen as “dating” your future employer. They are also a great way to test your skills in the real world and make valuable connections. Over 50 percent of ArtCenter students complete at least one internship during their tenure here.

On February 1, five students shared their internship experiences with a full Board Room of future interns on Hillside Campus: Interaction Design student Minji Gim interned at Designit (Copenhagen, Denmark); Transportation Design student Mason Watson interned at Tesla Motors (Hawthorne, CA) and General Motors (North Hollywood, CA); Illustration/Entertainment Arts student Kristen Psinakis interned at Dreamworks Animation (Glendale, CA); Product Design student Lori Nishikawa interned at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA); and Product Design student Kelly Kim interned at Karten Design (Marina del Rey, CA) & HTC (San Francisco, CA).

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Seeking Solace: The Travel Ban’s Impact on ArtCenter Students

Note: This story first appeared in Dot magazine online.

Inside Graduate Art student Delbar Shahbaz’s South Campus art studio, several of her smaller sculptures—with pale birdlike bodies and human-looking heads—line a high shelf. A quote by British artist Tracey Emin declaring “Love is what you want” is scrawled in big black letters on a wall. In the corner, on a hot plate, sits a tea kettle, trailing fresh steam.

The studio is a safe space for the 38-year-old, who moved to the United States from her native Tehran, Iran in 2013, and started at ArtCenter in 2015. It’s a zone where Shahbaz—who has a green card and is set to graduate this term—can think, imagine, work and feel free.

That feeling of freedom changed on January 27 for Shahbaz and Iranian Transportation Design student Ehsan Momeninejad they said. That day President Donald Trump issued an executive order—currently blocked by federal courts—banning citizens from Muslim-majority countries Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the U.S. for 90 days. Shahbaz’s sister, a Canadian citizen in Vancouver, was about to give birth to a son. Their parents live in Iran.

“I really want to go and see my sister, to help her, but I’m afraid. What if they don’t let me come back?” said Shahbaz, drinking tea in her studio. “I’ve already built my career here. I’m teaching an ArtCenter at Night sculpture class in the summer. I was feeling, with this order, ‘I’m alone, and I don’t have any land.’ Until then, I thought the U.S. was my land.”

Shahbaz and 27-year-old Momeninejad—who has a student visa—both protested at Los Angeles International Airport the day after the executive order was announced. News surrounding the order, and an updated one reportedly in the works, has shifted week by week. Momeninejad had intended to visit his parents and sister in Tehran in April, and now doesn’t want to risk going back and not be able to return to finish his degree, he said. Shahbaz has thrown herself into her work, seeking solace from ArtCenter faculty.

Continue reading →

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ArtCenter News

ArtCenter College of Design

This week at ArtCenter

Knowledge is power: A Transportation Design student’s journey from Zimbabwe to ArtCenter

Faculty Council announces Spring Teaching Advancement Awards

Human Resources (HR) Delivers on Training Programs in 2016: Seeking Input for 2017 Programming

Board of Trustees Sets Tuition Rates for Fiscal Year 2018

Fresh Food Round the Clock at South Campus

Interns Tell All

Seeking Solace: The Travel Ban’s Impact on ArtCenter Students