Faculty

 Sabiha Basrai is a member of Design Action Collective — a worker-owned cooperative dedicated to serving social justice movements with art, graphic design, and web development. She is co-coordinator of the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, where she works with racial justice organizers to fight against Islamophobia, and is part of the Center for Political Education advisory board.

Justin Carder is an interdisciplinary designer and artist based in Oakland. He is the former director of 826 Valencia's pirate-themed storefront, the founder of the experimental storefront/publisher Wolfman Books, and a former YBCA Public Imagination fellow. Currently, Justin is the co-host of the design podcast, "40 Trillion DPI" (with Helen Ip) and the designer-in-residence at The Headlands Center for the Arts.

Ivy Climacosa is a Philippine-born, Bay Area-raised graphic designer and small business owner. Coming from a background of grassroots organizing and over a decade in graphic design, she utilizes creative work as a vehicle for exploration, solidarity, and amplification.

Dr. Molly Hankwitz is a transdisciplinary researcher in techno-cultural arts and sciences; a trained architect, filmmaker and project designer.

Carrie Hott is an interdisciplinary artist based in Oakland, California. Her work is informed by a roving research practice that explores the current and historic infrastructural systems that mediate our collective experiences and perceptions. She has presented her work as part of exhibitions and projects across the country, most recently at Bay Area Now 8 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and the Museum of Capitalism in Oakland, as well as a permanent project, The Key Room,...

Sandra Kelch has worked in the design field for more than 20 years, and has received awards for her publications from Adobe, Print, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and the Society of Publication Designers. She received two degrees in graphic design from The Cooper Union School of Art and The Cranbrook Academy of Art. Most of Sandra's career has been focused on socially responsible design: promoting nonprofit organizations, branding, publication design and infographics/signage. Sandra...

Kathryn Kenworth is an artist and graphic designer interested in social practice artwork. Her work explores ways in which artists can activate community connections through artistic practice that exist in everyday situations. She received her Masters in Fine Arts from Mills College (Oakland, CA) and actively exhibits her work in galleries, parking lots, small businesses and other unexpected places. Kathryn has worked as a graphic designer in both web and print for over 10 years and brings her...

Scott Kildall has been working with art, technology, and education for over 15 years. He focuses on transforming data from the natural environment, such as water quality, air quality and plant data into sound installations, sculptures, and video works. He uses custom electronics to create generative, data-driven experiences with uncertain outcomes. His artwork has been exhibited internationally at venues including the New York Hall of Science, Transmediale, the Venice Biennale, the Vancouver...

Ian Montgomery is the creative director of Guacamole Airplane, a design agency focused on sustainable packaging. At GA Ian has led projects for Whole Foods, Allbirds, and Lumi, among others. At USF, Ian's packaging design course focuses on giving students the professional skills necessary to pursue a creative, fulfilling, and environmentally responsible career in the creative arts.

Joshua Wilder Oakley is a freelance graphic designer, photographer and small business owner.

Nico van Dongen is an educator, fine art photographer, and freelance designer. He has worked as art director for several startups, focusing on design, photography, and business development. In addition to his professional work, Nico has 20 years of post-secondary classroom and administrative experience in art and design education.

Alessandra Wood is a design historian writing a dissertation on mid-twentieth-century department store interiors. She has an MA in the History of Decorative Arts and Design from Parsons and is currently working towards a PhD with the University of Delaware. She has intense academic training in style, production, and consumption of furniture and decorative arts with a focus on the 19th and 20th centuries.