Title: Adjunct Lecturer
Department: Fine & Performing Arts
Years teaching: 6.5
Courses taught: Basic Graphic Design, Design Production, and Senior Seminar
Teaching modality: In-person and synchronous online
Typical class size: 18-24
Why do you embed career readiness into your course(s)?
As an agency owner who has mentored and hired young talent for over 25 years, I’ve learned how to help recent grads ease into their careers. In the Senior Seminar, I prepare students for real-world challenges, so the “cold shower” of professional life feels less jarring when they know it’s coming.
How are you currently embedding career readiness into your course(s)?
The course modules and learning units are structured around real-world, day-to-day creative workflows:
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- Research builds critical thinking and connects insights to strategic goals.
- Solution development emphasizes creative exploration and concepting grounded in research.
- Critique sessions develop visual literacy, communication skills, and the ability to give and receive feedback.
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Students are encouraged to attend an optional professional networking event and enhance their LinkedIn presence. Guest lecturers add industry perspective.
Most importantly, we’re teaching a generation navigating constant digital change. Many students express a desire for stability. I focus on building their agility quotient—helping reduce stress and improve focus on the curriculum.
What teaching tools and/or resources do you recommend faculty utilize when embedding career readiness into their curriculum?
All the courses I currently teach focus on visual communication, and I’ve found VoiceThread to be an invaluable tool—I even earned a certificate in it.
In Design Production, real-world examples are essential. Staying current with technology is key. Students study and identify production techniques, then apply those skills during a visit to the MoMA Museum Store. There, they select an item, reverse engineer its production, and present their findings as a design magazine spread.
What’s the best advice about teaching you’ve ever received?
The best teaching advice I’ve received came from teachers who left a lasting impact on my life.
“We need to raise kids who know what to do when there are no instructions.” ~Seth Godin, best-selling author of over 20 books on marketing and host of the Akimbo podcast.
I was incredibly fortunate to study under Milton Glaser at the School of Visual Arts, best known for the I ❤︎ NY logo. This is how he taught his classes:
“What you teach is what you are. You don’t teach by telling people things. I believe that you convey your ideas by the authenticity of your being. Not by glibly telling someone what to do or how to do it. I believe that this is why so much teaching is ineffective. Good teaching is merely having an encounter with someone who has an idea of what life is that you admire and want to emulate.”
What advice would you give to a faculty member whose primary concern to taking a career-focused pedagogical approach is lack of time?
Once you start thinking with a career-focused teaching mindset, you’ll begin to see opportunities to integrate career-relevant learning units into your existing curriculum.
What advice would you give to a faculty member whose primary concern in adopting a career-focused pedagogical approach is lack of resources?
I don’t believe there’s a lack of resources—tools like the internet and AI are excellent starting points.
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- Brainstorm with colleagues who successfully use these approaches in their courses.
- Partner with experienced professionals in your network—someone always knows someone.
- Most importantly, become a student yourself and keep building your knowledge.
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How would you best describe your teaching style?
I definitely fall into the facilitator-style category. I enjoy guiding rather than directing—encouraging students to take initiative, ask questions, and explore multiple solutions, with support and gentle nudges along the way.
Tell us about a teaching “win” you’ve had and the context in which it happened.
Peer recognition is vital in visual communication. I encourage students to enter design competitions, and over the past four years, 30 students across 8 groups have won in non-student categories. One student won three years in a row and recently received an exceptionally gifted visa.
In 2024, two students were featured as “Students to Watch” in GDUSA, and Baruch Fine & Performing Arts was named a top design school. That same year, 16 students across 4 groups won in the Design for Good category.
Briefly describe your favorite assignment or in-class activity.
At the start of the course, students draw one of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies (a fantastic educator’s version of old-school prompting), which we use as a guide throughout the semester.
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