How can you make a difference in the world as a designer? Join us on Zoom on Thursday, October 20th from 6:30 pm-7:45 pm EST as we welcome author, educator, designer, and researcher Dr. Audra Buck-Coleman. We will dive into what design for social good means in an interactive discussion and provide insights on how you can practice design for social good in your daily life.

Dr. Audra Buck-Coleman is an author, educator, designer, and social design researcher. Her research and creative practice focus on social justice design, the ways art and design can create positive change in culture and society. For more than 20 years, she has been creating collaborative cross-community projects that seek to close the distance between our perceived identity differences and to advocate the needs of underrepresented groups. Of these, nine have engaged off-campus partners, two have been conducted internationally, 11 have addressed issues of underrepresented groups, and 14 have resulted in exhibitions.

She is currently the inaugural Associate Director for the Changemaker Institute at UC San Diego. In this role, she connects campus members and outside communities for collaborative projects that seek to make the world more just, sustainable, and inclusive. She strives to facilitate positive social change throughout the campus and beyond.

Dr. Buck-Coleman holds an Ph.D. in sociology with an emphasis in social psychology and social mobility and inequality from University of Maryland, College Park, an M.F.A. in two-dimensional design from Cranbrook Academy of Art, and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from University of Missouri-Columbia. She leverages this knowledge to research issues of culture, racial and social inequality, identity, social psychology, and social movements. She concentrates this work on the ways art and design can potentially undermine stereotypes, prejudice, and bias.

She has taught on three different campuses: Wayne State University, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and most recently at University of Maryland, College Park, where she was a tenured Associate Professor and director of the graphic design program.

https://audrabuckcoleman.com/