The School of Visual Arts is taking applications for its very first MFA in Interaction Design. I am proud to say that my friend and former colleague at Boxes and Arrows, Liz Danzico is the chair and the brains behind this new venture.
They have a crack group of faculty, drawing from some of the best in the field, including (from the press release): “Christopher Fahey, founding partner, Behavior and author, graphpaper.com; David Womack, co-author, Becoming a Digital Designer: A Guide to Careers in Web, Video, Broadcast, Game and Animation Design (Wiley, 2007), editor, Adobe Think Tank, and consultant on digital strategy and content; Jason Santa Maria, creative director, Happy Cog Studios, and author, jasonsantamaria.com; Karen McGrane, founding partner, Bond Art + Science; Khoi Vinh, design director, NYTimes.com, and author, Subtraction.com; Paul Ford, novelist and editor/programmer, Harper’s Magazine, and author, Ftrain.com, Rachel Abrams, designer, writer and creative director, Turnstone Consulting LLC; and Jeffrey Zeldman, founder, Happy Cog Studios, co-founder, The Web Standards Movement, publisher, A List Apart, the standard reference for Web design, and co-founder, An Event Apart, a conference for people who make Web sites.” This looks like an amazing line up – I have admired and followed the work of many of these folks as well as Liz.
The School of Visual Arts was almost my alma mater for my BFA – in a Design / Writing program – but I was dumb and young (18 yrs. old) and chickened out of going off to the big city of New York. One of those paths not taken, but I think I turned out ok anyway.
I am excited for Liz, and recall once when I was offering her a job at Yahoo! – which she turned down to her credit – that she made a comment about wanting to do something of her own and make her own mark.
Well I think she is about to make it and in a big way! Congrats.
