HEADS OF THE CLASS

When Lucille Tenazas came to California College of the Arts five years ago to create the graduate graphic design program, she began researching the other programs that prospective students were applying to. The five leading go-to schools were run by women. “The majority of ground-breaking programs that are being rethought—that are different and evolving and interesting—are run by women,” Tenazas says. Many of these women are also producing revolutionary research, writing, and organizational contributions that complement their successes in the classroom.

At the graduate level, where the theoretical issues of design determine the trajectory of practice, many women have chosen to further their own questions about the discipline by formulating the course of study. Ellen Lupton recently created an MFA track at Maryland Institute of the Arts. Bethany Johns just took over the graduate program at the Rhode Island School of Design. Sheila de Bretteville has directed graduate studies at Yale for 15 years. North Carolina State’s program has been in the hands of Denise Gonzales Crisp for three years. These schools are known as hothouses for new thought in design.

The field of design research is another area of study pioneered by women educators. Meredith Davis and Sharon Poggenpohl were both intrinsic to the creation of Ph.D. programs at their respective schools, North Carolina State and The Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology. The Ph.D program that Poggenpohl coordinated is the first in the country to exist solely within the design department. Lisa Grocott of Parsons School of Design brings an international perspective by conducting institutional research exploring the relationship between academic and professional practice. In the graduate field, Brenda Laurel’s media design program at Art Center is an industry authority, adapting design methodology for business research.

Davis and her colleague Martha Scotford also assume many roles in educational research. Davis works through NASAD (National Association of Schools of Art and Design) to review faculty for tenure and promotions and assist with accreditation procedures. Scotford was awarded a grant from the NEA (National Endowment of the Arts) to study women in design. Crucial to disseminating this wealth of educational information is the documentation of standards, which Davis also oversees. “Briefing papers,” also known as “white papers,” are NASAD documents produced in conjunction with AIGA. These provide an explanation of strategies and set the agenda for future aspirations within the discipline; they are used at every educational level.

Extensive writing about education issues have pulled many women designers into national conversations through design publications. Lupton is one of the most prolific, with Wild, Sandhaus, Gonzales Crisp, and Jessica Helfand supporting the dialogue. Kali Nikitas, chair of the visual arts department at Northeastern University, edits an education discussion on AIGA’s online newsletter, LOOP: The Journal of Interactive Design Education, which often calls upon many of these same women to contribute.

Other organizations have called upon women’s leadership to generate discussions about education. AIGA’s educator conferences grew out of a NASAD mandate for regional symposiums to share and exchange information about design education. Art Center professor Petrula Vrontikis was on the AIGA national board when the call came down in 2001, and set to work coordinating one of the first conferences, Schools of Thoughts, with Gonzales Crisp and Sandhaus. The AIGA conferences are adamant about documenting presentations from educators across the country to make them widely available.