Faculty News & Kudos

We welcome any news related to your scholarly and creative life – local talks and awards, interviews, exhibited work, competition entries, conference presentations, work or proposals submitted for review, service on a panel, travel, press coverage, performance, events facilitated or organized, creative or professional projects completed.

Douglas Davis to host new Creative Cloud for Teams 5 Minute Creative Mentor series

There are some things they just don’t teach you in design school. Creative leadership, decision-making, and the new systems design needed to navigate a global pandemic are just a few things. Enter Douglas Davis, strategist, author, professor, and now the host of the 5-minute Creative Mentor Series. Douglas will host the first three videos in this personality-driven series aimed at offering focused, bites of thought leadership on specific creative issues important in 2021. Each short video offers a new insight for navigating work as a creative leader and Davis gives an example of what the series seeks to address, “oftentimes, creatives get promoted for doing their job well. What isn’t obvious is that transitioning from creative to leader requires a different skill set.” Developed for creatives who are short on time, the series will be interview style with B-roll and graphics, the series is a creative advice column for the digital age.

Episode 1 focuses on The Creative Strategy Framework, Douglas’ methodology for organizing the chaos in the creative process.

Episode 2 is centered around questioning the answers that may have worked in the past and writing — or rewriting — the creative brief.

Episode 3 is aimed at pitching to decision-makers when they don’t want what they need. The series will include a standalone article, Business skills for creative leaders, that will explore ways to apply the creative strategy framework mentioned in the first video, by going deeper into several scenarios.

George Garrastegui curated, moderated, and chaired the 2021 AIGA Design + Business Conference

In May of 2021, Prof George Garrastegui curated, moderated, and chaired the 2021 AIGA Design + Business Conference. (https://aiga.swoogo.com/business2021/speakers) A 4-day design conference focused on the collaboration and relationship of creative agency and client. It uncovered insights into what drove successful collaboration and communication and explored the decisions that informed the final product—the “how’s” and “why’s” behind the “what.”

In 2022, George will continue as Chair and Moderator of the next AIGA Design + Business Conference and host a monthly creative business webinar series with Branding expert Nakita M. Pope of Branding Chicks.

Dr. Effinger-Crichlow is a 2021 Cucalorus Works-in-Progress Lab Recipient

Dr. Effinger-Crichlow is a 2021 Cucalorus Works-in-Progress Lab Recipient, which is a residency that allows her to continue work on her documentary film, Little Sallie Walker

Costas Panayotakis recently published book “The Capitalist Mode of Destruction…”

Costas Panayotakis, Professor of Sociology at City Tech (CUNY), would like to share the recent publication of his book, “The Capitalist Mode of Destruction: Austerity, Ecological Crisis and the Hollowing out of Democracy,” which was recently published by Manchester University Press.