UCDA Staff, UCDA Board & UCDA Foundation Board
UCDA Staff
The Executive Director provides overall direction, management, and leadership for the association, including overseeing governance, day-to-day operations, organizational structure, marketing, public relations, communications, finances, policies, and strategic development. The executive director onboards, manages, and collaborates with board directors, drives strategy and planning, works with sponsors, partners, and members, and develops stakeholder relationships toward achieving the organization's ongoing mission, vision, and strategic priorities on behalf of the members of UCDA and the UCDA Foundation.
The Director of Strategic Initiatives work closely with the executive director and the Board to advance UCDA’s strategic priorities, including enhancing digital programming, updating internal policies and procedures, growing membership, and increasing member engagement.
Katharine McCann
Executive Director
Email: katharine@ucda.com
Phone: 615-459-4559
Katharine is a 30-year veteran of higher ed as a designer, art director, and brand visuals manager. Her design career began in 1996 in a work-study student position with Radford University's Creative Services. After a brief stint in the corporate world, she happily rejoined the higher education design community in 2000.
In 2001, she became a UCDA member and took her first flight to attend the Design Summit in San Diego. After serving many years as a volunteer, she joined the UCDA Board of Directors in 2022, co-chairing the Workshops and Webinars/Engagement committee. In 2024, she joined the Executive Board as vice president/treasurer and served as president until August 2025, when she stepped into the interim executive director role. She also co-chaired the 2023 UCDA Creative Summit and chaired it in 2024.
Katharine is deeply curious, a creative thinker, nerdy, and an advocate for good design. She is eternally grateful to her mom for a steady supply of books and crayons, her dad for creating an environment filled with diverse interests and encouraging a career in art, her sister for helping her to understand the importance of empathy, and her Granddaddy Jack for never saying no to an adventure. She loves cats, mysteries, puzzle games, pop culture, puns, trivia, is an introvert, and loves a good challenge. She, her husband, two kids, and three cats live in Altavista, Virginia.
Benjie Wilhelm
Director of Strategic Initiatives
Benjie is an executive brand strategist and design educator with extensive experience in creative leadership and brand development. He is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor at Arizona State University, where he designs curricula, mentors students, and helps strengthen connections between academic learning and the creative industries. Before academia, Benjie founded •Singularity, a design consultancy that worked with Fortune 500 companies and tech startups. His work brings together strategic design, organizational leadership, and narrative craft to create impactful experiences across education, technology, and culture.
UCDA Board of Directors
The member-elected UCDA Board of Directors serves staggered two-year terms. The board of directors works with the Executive Director to execute governance, policies, and strategic objectives on behalf of the organization by providing ongoing programming, events, resources, support, and other benefits for the association's membership. The board of directors also works with UCDA members on committees and with other UCDA volunteers.
President/Programming Director: Ryan Sprowl
Email: programming@ucda.com
Born and raised in Ohio, Ryan has spent his entire design career working in higher education. Before relocating to Richmond, Virginia, to serve as art director at VCUarts, he spent more than nine years as a designer and art director at Oberlin College. Ryan has been an active member of UCDA since 2014, during which time he has attended many Design Conferences, served as a conference breakout session speaker, and chaired the Creative Summit.
Secretary/Treasurer: Allison Baumbusch
Email: secretary@ucda.com
Allison Baumbusch is creative director at Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Maryland. She has been in higher education for 25 years and has a Master's in Integrated Design. She has been a member of UCDA since 2008, serving as a volunteer and as a member of the UCDA Designer Magazine Advisory Board.
Co-Membership Director: Leslie Ehler
Email: membership@ucda.com
Leslie Ehler is creative director at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Co-Membership Director: Alex Parsons
Email: membership@ucda.com
Alex is the creative director for Michigan State University's Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). A UCDA member since 2002, he has served as conference chair, awards chair, Creative Summit co-chair, and 20x20 presenter. With over three decades of experience in design and communications, Alex brings a deep expertise in graphic design, illustration, photography, and project management, as well as a collaborative spirit and a passion for expanding our professional network.
Co-Digital Content Director: Muriel Schrepfer
Email: communications@ucda.com
Muriel is a senior graphic designer in the Office of Communications and Marketing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She has been a UCDA member since 2022, jumping in as Virtual Programs Coordinator and volunteering with membership and development committees. An award-winning designer and communicator, she’s known for her strong collaboration and organizational skills, and is passionate about fostering creative community in higher education.
Development Director: Stephen Russell
Email: sponsorship@ucda.com
Stephen Russell is lead graphic designer at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Stephen has two decades of freelance and in-house design experience, including almost a decade in higher education.
Education Director: Michael Clayton
Email: education@ucda.com
Michael Clayton is a professor at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. He has been a member of UCDA since 2014. Michael served as a long-standing member of the education committee, a peer reviewer for Design Education Summit and the Spark Design Education Academic Journal. Mike also chaired the UCDA Design Education Summit in 2021. He and his wife have five children, with only one left at home.
Digital Content Director: Meghan Edmonson
Email: digitalcontent@ucda.com
Meghan Edmonson is a graphic design coordinator at Waubonsee Community College. She specializes in creating print collateral, digital media, and interactive design.
UCDA Foundation Board of Directors
The UCDA Foundation Board of Directors is the primary policy-making body of the foundation. The board is empowered to determine policy, propose and direct long-term planning, raise funds and develop relationships to support fundraising efforts, and to establish ongoing programs for the benefit of the foundation, UCDA, and its members.
President: David Whaley
Email: whaleymd@longwood.edu
David Whaley serves as Design Director for Longwood University in Virginia, where he is instrumental in the design and implementation of Longwood's graphic identity and the promotion of principal academic programs—especially those of the university president, provost, deans, the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts (LCVA), and the Robert Russa Moton Museum. He has received over 80 national awards for his design work, including first place from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) for the catalogue 'Reflecting Centuries of Beauty: The Rowe Collection of Chinese Art' and the gold award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for the catalogue 'Three Ring Circus: Highlights from the William and Ann Oppenhimer Folk Art Collection.' David is active in the leadership of the University and College Designers Association (UCDA) where he serves as President of the UCDA Foundation Board of Directors. He has also served on boards at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), 1708 Gallery, and The Folk Art Society of America (FASA) in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia. David is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College and Harvard University.
Secretary: K. Johnson Bowles
Email: Kjohnsonbowles@gmail.com
K. Johnson Bowles is Vice President for Advancement at Reinhardt University.
Treasurer: Amanda J. Earnest-Reitmann
Email: amanda.earnest-reitmann@wright.edu
Amanda J. Earnest-Reitmann is Director, Enrollment and Partner Marketing, and Brand Strategy for the University Communications and Marketing at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Before her current position, Amanda was a front-end web developer and graphic designer for the Office of Marketing. Previously, she worked for the University of Cincinnati Foundation and Auburn University's College of Education. She’s been in the field of higher education marketing and branding, specifically print and web design, for close to 20 years. Amanda received her bachelor’s degree in art (graphic design) with a music minor from Morehead State University and received her Master of Fine Arts degree in graphic design from Savannah College of Art and Design. Being a member of UCDA since 2005, Amanda has served as a conference volunteer for many years, was co-chair and then chair of the UCDA Design Summit in 2015/2016, and was co-chair and chair of the UCDA Design Competition in 2018/2019. She was on the Board of Directors 2020-2023.
Penny Drexel
Email: pennydrexel@gmail.com
Penny Drexel is editorial production manager for Big Ideas Learning. Previously, she worked at Allegheny College in northwestern Pennsylvania for over 20 years. She is a graduate of Kent State University's Visual Communication Design program.
Penny has been a member of UCDA since 2006 and credits the professional connections and friendships she made via UCDA for her continuing passion for design and success in higher education. She has served on the UCDA Board of Directors, chaired the annual conference in 2010, and served as conference volunteer coordinator for several years.
Pamela Fogg
Email: foggpamela@gmail.com
After a 20-year career at Middlebury College, most recently as the creative director and long-time art director for the award-winning Middlebury Magazine, Pam began her own effort as Pamela Fogg Editorial Design. Her clients include the University of Puget Sound and National Peace Corps Association, as well as a handful of authors and a PR firm. Since she began working in higher education, she has relished her involvement with UCDA and has served on the UCDA board of directors, is a past president, created and chaired a committee on sustainability, co-chaired several design conferences, and has served as a judge for the annual design competition. Pamela has worked in higher education over 20 years and in the design arena for more than 30. She received her B.F.A. in advertising and design from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. In her spare time she makes art, ice cream, and hikes and bikes around her home the Green Mountain State of Vermont.
Matt Krob
Email: matt.krob@slu.edu
Matt is the Director of Design Services in the Division of Marketing and Communications at Saint Louis University and has survived 20+ years in higher ed design. UCDA highlights include attending his first conference (in San Francisco) as a senior in college, serving on the UCDA Board of Directors from 2014 to 2017, with 2016 as the Board President, 2020 UCDA Design Awards Chair, UCDA Design Awards Judge in 2021, and joining the UCDA Foundation Board of Directors in 2023. Matt received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.
Elana Trager
Email: elana.trager@mcgill.ca
Elana is associate director of communications in University Advancement Communications at McGill University. She is a successful marketing and communications professional with 15+ years of experience in the education environment. Elana is recognized as a critical thinker with impressive achievements in developing strategies for increased growth locally, nationally, and internationally.
UCDA Emeritus Board Members
Emeritus and UCDA Founding Member: Lee Kline
Email: leejay.kline2@gmail.com
Emeritus Foundation Board Member: Jody Zamirowski
Email: jody.z@comcast.net
Jody Zamirowski is a founder and first president of the UCDA Foundation. As a UCDA board member and officer, Jody developed new programming for UCDA including the Hot and Now workshop, RE Workshop, and the Insight Workshop. She also conceived and led the first two UCDA Design Education Summits, chaired two national conferences, and served as co-editor and designer of UCDA's Designer Magazine.
In developing these programs, she saw the need to support and enhance the programming of UCDA. Potential attendees did not always have institutional funding to attend professional development programs that could be so beneficial to their careers. Through the Foundation, UCDA is able to meet some of these needs.
Jody also started the 'Design Matters' limited edition poster campaign to benefit the UCDA Foundation. Her background includes creating campaign materials for many fundraising efforts at the College of DuPage, and participating in general development and capital campaigns.
Emeritus Foundation Board Member: Tina LeMay
Email: lemayd@clemson.edu
Tina came to Clemson University for undergraduate school, stayed for graduate school, accepted a full-time position, and swore she'd only stay two years. She has now been there for three decades and is Creative Director of Marketing and Communications.
Emeritus Foundation Board Member: Richard Jividen
Emeritus Foundation Board Member: Jean Bevier
Emeritus Foundation Board Member: Dave Dryden