Surrounded by objects in our daily life, we are constantly interacting with the material world. The chairs we sit in, the devices we can’t put down, the clothing we wear, the art that moves us, the ground we walk on—even the systems that pump the air we breathe—are all designed objects. Some things are outright designed for a superior user experience or to achieve a specific look, others shaped by patterns of use (or misuse). The visual and material world is an incredible reflection of the people who use and make these objects, and the cultures in which they were created. Though we take so much of our surroundings for granted, each object is imbued with a rich social and cultural history. The material world is a strong link to stories of resources, production, gender, class, political unrest, and technological progress, and the study of objects delivers a diverse and powerful history often lost in textual sources. My love for design and material culture and a belief in the power of objects, architecture, and art to shape and be shaped by the world in which they reside fuels my teaching philosophy and frames the way I approach design history, theory, and criticism. In an age where humanities departments are second place to math and science, I think it’s imperative to enlighten students about the power of critical thinking, and the importance of criticism being critical analysis. My classes do so by guiding students to consider the historical narratives told by the material world and then pushing them to reflect on their own existence to probe, to question, to learn how the things they consume or create are part of a larger cultural story. These are the questions that fuel exploration in the classes I teach: “How are our cultural views (and those of past cultures) reflected through the material world?,” How has material culture intentionally or unintentionally represented or marginalized people throughout history?” “Where do we see design promoting continuity or change in past and present cultures?” 

Creating a more inclusive educational experience is core to my role as an educator. I push for more inclusive stories in the world of art and design and pose assignments to students that encourage them to expand upon the white, cis-male narrative so common in art and design history. Representation is important as it allows students to better connect when historical figures and designers look familiar to them. As someone who has taught and mentored students from different backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, ages, and abilities, it is at the very core of my philosophy to help each one individually succeed. In addition to seeing themselves reflected in the content of my classes, it might mean taking extra time to engage with students, recognizing different learning styles, tailoring assignments to empower different learning styles, or in some cases working 1:1 with a student to understand their individual needs to achieve success. 

Through lectures, field trips, archival studies, and assignments, my courses focus on studying objects in ways that reveal social and cultural narratives and urge students to think deeper about history and how it’s traditionally thought. A standard study of the aesthetic progression or historical timeline of the telephone is much less captivating than learning how the device reflected notions of gender and power in the early twentieth century or how it functions in our current society. Looking at objects from perspectives of gender, class, race, and power highlights the ways in which written sources often fail to reveal intense cultural struggles while objects and visual culture highlight these moments of unrest. While my background focuses mainly on historical topics, my work in the tech center reveals how the larger ideas can be applied within current cultural contexts, and I encourage students to relate these ideas to their lives. How might a telephone signal ideas of power in our current society? Is it still a gendered object? To further foster critical thinking, I favor assignments that spark creativity. For example, one of my favorite and most successful final projects asks students to create a mock museum exhibition. The final project calls for a curatorial statement, ten pieces with labels, and introductory text. Instead of writing a final paper where many students get caught up in telling the entire history of an object or work of art and neglect to develop their own thoughts or ideas, the core of this project focuses on a larger curatorial narrative. Ultimately the parameters of the project require students to develop a strong thesis and link each object back to that argument to justify its inclusion in the student’s exhibition.

Simply put, my teaching philosophy also fuels my own scholarship; it is the core of my academic experience. By studying the larger social and cultural narratives of objects of art and design, my goal is to empower people with a desire to think critically about and question the world around them and become more conscious participants in their own culture.