[ background ]

I have travelled extensively and spent the majority of my formative years in Laos,
Peru, and Liberia. My diverse background influences my work, which focuses on
the relationship between design, culture and identity. Since 1997, I have been teaching 
in the Graphic Design Program, School of Art and Art History at the University of
Florida in Gainesville.
 

[ research areas ]

activist design and propaganda, the potential of design to influence public
opinion, and how mass media creates culture and influences our cultural
value systems.

[ research  ]

I am currently working on a project with Katie Salen for the sixth issue of Zed, Edges and
Intersections which looks at graduate graphic design education on an international scope.
I am looking at graphic design and education in Latin America with a focus on Mexico,
Argentina, Chile and Brasil, and addressing issues such as the relationship of graphic design
to the larger culture; graphic design in a postcolonial context; the needs of specific cultures
within this context and more.

My work has been exhibited in "Designer as Author: Voices and Visions," an inter-
national design exhibition at Northern Kentucky University and in "Pun Intended"
at the Woman Made Gallery in Chicago. My paper "Continuing the Bauhaus Tradition:
Social Responsibility in Art and Design Pedagogy" was published in the 1997-98 issue
of FATE in Review. I recently completed my second article for Zed: a journal of design
on the role of the instant lottery in communicating history and creating culture. I
presented my paper entitled "On Making Meaning and Making Sense: a Case for a
Design Education that is Responsive to Society" at the 1998 College Art Association
Conference in Toronto. In addition to writing on design, I continue to design and
illustrate for non-profit clients.
 
[ education ]

MFA in Design/Visual Communication, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1995
BA in Political Science and History, Villanova University, 1988

[ resume ]