Most people are unaware that when a person is a professor, teaching is only a third of the work that they do for the university. As mentioned, teaching is a big part, research is another and service to the university or society is the last. Teaching is my passion, research gets me up in the morning (not early btw), and service is my reason for being a professor and from my perspective, all areas are intertwined and if they aren’t, they should be.

The major thrust of my research is that research takes many different forms. I am not a botanist that studies a very specific symbiosis of plant and fungus — the mycorrhiza — and every minute detail of it’s relationship (do they have a “relationship?”).

My scholarship consists of a body of research to determine the trajectory of the Communications Design industry and the state of design education. I continue to look for opportunities to research the critical attributes of a successful contemporary designer and pursue an investigation of design thinking as a general process that can be applied to any subject or situation to address any interest, concern, need or desire in order to improve the circumstances and capabilities involved.

I have a multifaceted research approach and all projects fall under this broad category. Specifically there are three main areas that I worked with this past year:

1. Design Education: Is education preparing students for a constantly changing industry?:
a. Design in Decline: Breathing New Life Into an Industry Through Education
b. Deprogramming Design Education: Breaking down a traditional curriculum to build a better program
c. Redesigning Design: Reestablishing Our Relevance After Losing Our Value.

2. Design Thinking/Critical Thinking and their roles in society
a. Decoding Democracy through Visual Literacy: Reading Between the Memes
b. Decoding Democracy: Arming a New Generation to View Social Media with Critical Thinking: Phase II
d. Viral Design: User Concepts of Virality on the Niche Social Media Site

3. Design as Social Innovation
c. VIEWpoint Kit: Design Tools for Achieving International Perspectives (Visual + Idea Exchange Workshop)
d. Decoding Democracy: A Social Media Accountability Project, A.I. and the News grant: An open challenge to educate society to navigate on social media for the betterment of society (recently found out that I made the finalist list – only 12% accepted, no others from SU but institutions such as M.I.T. and BBC are represented)

Rebecca Kelly’s interests lie in teaching the importance of conceptual thinking, not only to promote the virtues of invention and creativity, but ultimately the power of smart communication.

She teaches methodologies for effective visual communication and the complexities of advertising design and pursues a research agenda surrounding design sustainability. She has taught at the University of North Texas, Mississippi State University, and, currently, Syracuse University. Her students have been featured in leading design publications, earned prestigious awards, and accepted positions at prominent Fortune 500 companies. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Kelly is a children’s book author and partner in a small design firm in New York.

Rebecca’s area of research revolve arounds the future of design, entrepreneurial aspects of design and anything around design for good, and design education. Her latest two projects include using design methodology to advocate for young girls in S.T.E.M, S.T.E.A.M. and C.R.E.A.T.E  fields and using children’s books as the best medium to communicate that message. Her first children’s book will be coming out in the Fall 2019. The second project was practicing design diversity skills to design an eco-friendly off the grid home, which was recently selected to appear on the DIY Channel – Building Off The Grid.

Want to hear me speak even more?

Please join me as I serve on a panel discussion with Design and Architecture professors as we speak about poignant issues in our respective industries. Alpha Rho Chi, is a national professional Fraternity for Architecture and the Allied Arts and they are sponsoring a venue that wishes to explore issues pressing today’s disciplines. Wednesday, February 27th at 5:15 Slocum Auditorium at the Syracuse University campus, we are talking specifically about the ideas of design in the post digital era; computer programs and their contribution to design and what does success mean in the design field, should there be a universal style and finally what separates art and design?  The event, entitled, Controversial, Issues in Design and Architecture: a panel discussion with Design and Architecture professors and an exhibition of their work.

 

Things are changing.