Assistant Professor of Product Design, University of Kentucky
With over a decade of experience in academia, Carly Hagins has shown exceptional leadership by spearheading research on diversity, equity, and inclusion in design education and practice. Carly's passion for her students is evident through her high teaching evaluations and her efforts to foster a strong sense of community in the classroom. Beyond teaching, she actively engages with IDSA on various levels, advocating for students and promoting design education.
According to one of her nominators, “Carly’s research activities have been persistent, consistent, and impactful… [she] consistently advocates for students’ health and well-being, integrates this focus into her research, and contributes to IDSA on a local and international level to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, and make lasting change.”
Career Topography: Mapping Your Path
In this interactive workshop, participants will visualize their career path, reflecting on their experiences. This includes degrees earned, positions held, influential mentors, turning points or roadblocks along the way, where they are now, and where they aspire to be. This workshop aims to find patterns and spark conversations among participants, and will be valuable for everyone from young, aspiring designers to well-established executives.
This workshop will conclude with a brief summary of ongoing research dedicated to growing diversity in industrial design by better understanding pathways into design careers. The presenters have been collecting and publishing demographic data focused specifically on industrial design educators. This work has suggested differences in how and where men and women are hired and retained in (industrial design) higher education.
Panel Discussion: A Classic Debate: Is Grad School Worth It?
We’ve heard it plenty of times: “nobody goes to grad school for design.” But is it true? And even if it’s not true, is going to graduate school worth it? What makes it worth it (or not?) This panel will bring together professionals with a variety of experiences to duke it out, debate-club style, with plenty of time and opportunities for audience participation. Statements will be prepared, and rebuttals will be encouraged.
Moderator: Carly Hagins, IDSA – Assistant Professor, Western Michigan University
Panelists:
Carly’s graduate work has focused primarily on wellness for undergraduate students. Her on-going collaborations with campus stakeholders have introduced design to student affairs professionals and changed how they engage with the students they serve.
How will you use design to change the world?
The design process has tremendous potential to help professionals in other fields re-focus their goals and reconsider how they work to achieve them. During my graduate education, I’ve worked very closely with the McDonald Center for Student Well-Being, Notre Dame’s on-campus wellness center. Many members of the McDonald Center staff have their Master’s in Public Health (MPH.) They are champions for our students, but don’t always have the creative methodologies to fully engage with them—especially as the student population is ever-changing. In our work together, I have helped them shift their focus from running programming to equipping other stakeholders to develop and run their own, wellness-informed programming. Moving forward, I will continue to pair design thinking with public health and health promotion as well as work to introduce the methodology to professionals in other fields
Additionally, as an educator I will continue to work to equip students with a strong foundation in the elements of design and design thinking. This worldview will help them step through decision making in a thoughtful and methodical manner, which, over time, will certainly change the world.
Carly’s presentation at IDC 2019 in Chicago, IL.
Projects
Sketching Stories
Industrial designers use sketching to establish context, communicate ideas and—perhaps most importantly—tell stories. Telling stories is natural; it’s an intuitive method to visually explain methodology, think through a problem and define a final solution. During this interactive workshop, Hector Silva and Carly Hagins will guide participants through the process of using storytelling to make their sketches more meaningful. Participants will leave the session well-equipped with tools and techniques to bring their sketching to the next level.
