Points available: 5 points
Date: February 21, 2013
Location: FAC 304, Drake University
Presenter: Matthew [last name withheld for confidentiality!]
Entry: This was an hour-long presentation given to Drake Art & Design faculty and students by Matthew, a candidate for the currently-open Graphic Design instructor position. It was an opportunity for him to introduce himself to the department and showcase both his work and his approach to teaching design. The presentation was organized around topics that are important to graduating seniors, including advice for getting your name and work out into the wider world, tips on the job hunting and interview process, and how to keep yourself engaged and happy in a very competitive, demanding field. He was able to use examples of his own work and anecdotes from his experiences to both illustrate these points and give the audience a better feel for him as a person and a designer.
Assessment: Each student audience member was asked to complete a one-page survey documenting our impressions of the candidate and our assessment of his presentation. While all decision-making rests with the department faculty (and rightfully so!), I appreciate that they are interested in hearing students' feedback and involving us with the process of candidate selection. Even though I will not have the opportunity to take a class with the new professor, it is a great opportunity to watch a little bit of the hiring process and to hear a fresh voice discussing design education.
Conclusion: I took fairly copious notes during the presentation because I felt he had a lot of sound advice for us soon-to-be-graduates. I really appreciated his multidisciplinary approach to design and illustration and was inspired by his seamless integration of both into nearly all of his work (including his portfolio and self-promotional materials). Combining design and hand-worked illustration/construction is something I am greatly interested in, but I have not yet found a solid approach (or, perhaps, seized the right opportunities) to do so in my own work. His reminder that our personal identity system will be an evolving process, and that what we are stressing about this year will be a fleeting memory a year or a decade from now, was also a reassuring salve for my current second-semester-senior nerves! I think Matthew has a lot to bring to Drake if he is hired and I think he would be a good fit within the department, both personality-wise and with his design sensibilities.
Documentation: I neglected to take a picture of my completed survey, but here are some of the notes I took over the course of the presentation:
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