Associate Professor of Industrial Design, Auburn University
Verena has held industrial design faculty positions at the University of Texas at Austin, Drexel University and Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Her research focuses on the diffusion of design thinking and doing practices in design and non-design-oriented disciplines, with an emphasis on exploring visualization as a gateway to learning, comprehension and creative confidence. Paepcke-Hjeltness frequently plans and facilitates workshops on sketchnoting, design thinking and strategic planning in both academia and industry. She has worked both in Germany and the U.S. as an industrial designer with a focus on aviation and transportation design.
Verena was recognized for her leadership in helping to deliver a successful 2023 Education Symposium.
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.
Statement of Candidacy (2022-2023 term)
Dear IDSA Community,
Over the past two years I have had the honor to be your Education Director and simply put, there is still a lot to do.
In 2020 I started with a lot of ambition to support students and faculty and connect academia and practice. Some of it came to fruition; meanwhile, many ideas are still on the drawing board.
Student Chapters still need more support, there is a lot of room to grow in creating value for faculty, and there is so much untapped potential in our design community to exchange knowledge across the aisles.
If you vote for me, I will continue to do my best to be your academic voice on the Board.
Cheers,
Verena
Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness has served as a faculty liaison for IDSA student chapters. Her students and colleagues have called her “deeply committed and caring,” with “a clear passion for helping others succeed both in and outside the classroom.”
Verena has been recognized in the ID world for pioneering “sketchbooking” as a methodology at Iowa State. However, as one of her nominators said, she also deserves to be recognized for her inspirational teaching.
Workshop: Making Connections With Visual Maps: Academia Meets Practice
My Other Sketch is a Porsche: Changing the Paradigm of Visual Thought Processing through Generative Sketchnoting
Assistant Professor Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness, IDSA, of Iowa State University discusses the potential of Generative Sketchnoting as a visual framework for faster problem framing and lean, high-level, concept development.
Perhaps best thought of as traditional sketchnoting without the safety net—no external domain expert, deck, pre-defined duration or auditorium seating—just a pen and paper and ideas flowing from the mind(s) of the individual or group captured and “shaped” as they emerge. The real power of generative sketchnoting, however, is its ability to transform a discussion into a “visualized” set of conversational trails that can be viewed, reviewed and revised.
