UCDA Design Education Summit

Robin Landa, a distinguished professoer at the Robert Busch School of Design, Kean University, has written more than twenty published books about design, creativity, advertising, branding and drawing, including Nimble: Thinking Creatively in the Digital Age; Build Your Own Brand; Graphic Design Solutions, 5th ed.; Advertising by Design, 2nd ed.; DRAW! The Guided Sketchbook That Teaches You How To Draw; and, Designing Brand Experiences. John Wiley & Sons will publish the third edition of Advertising By Design at the end of 2016. You can read translations of Robin's books in Chinese or Spanish, too. Universities worldwide have adopted her books as the basis for their curricula.

Robin designs, teaches, writes, and speaks at international conferences. She has won numerous awards, including awards from the National Society of Arts and Letters, the National League of Pen Women, Creativity, New Jersey Authors Award, the Art Directors Club of New Jersey, Graphic Design USA, Rowan University Design Education, and Kean University Creative Research awards. She was the 2013 Kean University Professor of the Year. The Carnegie Foundation counts Robin among the 'Great Teachers of Our Time.' She was a finalist in the Wall Street Journal's Creative Leaders competition. In 2014, Robin was the sole judge of the International HOW Design Logo Competition. She is a favorite speaker at the HOW Design Conferences and is a monthly contributor to HOW Design's online magazine.

Mitch Paone is the Founder and Creative Director at DIA, a brand consultancy, design studio and production company based in New York. He is an awarding-winning creative director with a broad range of experience in branding, design, advertising, commercial direction and music direction. He combines his expertise into a holistic process that allows brands to reach their potential in a clear, succinct vision. His unique array of experience provides him a rare point of view that is unfounded among the industry.

Mitch has created innovative work for large and small brands including Google, Nissan, Nokia, Viacom, Nike, and many more. His work has been recognized by The Art Directors Club, AIGA, OneShow and Type Directors Club. He has also been featured in a wide range of design and creative publications and is a regular lecturer at creative conferences and universities.

Beyond his commercial career, Mitch is the pianist and bandleader of the jazz-fusion group Non-Static as well as an exhibiting fine artist.

Craig Welsh is an associate professor of Communications at Penn State Harrisburg. Having previously taught for three years at Penn State Harrisburg, Craig Welsh arrived back at the campus in 2008. Beyond the classroom, Craig is also the principal of a successful design studio, Go Welsh, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Additionally, he is the founder of Society of Design, a non-profit organization dedicated to multidisciplinary design education and community service.

Craig earned an M.F.A in graphic design from Marywood University after earning his M.A. in advertising design from Syracuse University, and holds a B.S. in architecture from Penn State University.

He directs strategy and creative on a range of projects and campaigns at his off-campus design studio, including branding, identity, collateral, interactive, and motion graphics projects for sole proprietors to Fortune 500 companies. His most current research is focused on letterpress printing methods and materials. He previously conducted research on product placement in film and television entertainment and presented at the International Conference on the Arts & Humanities.