Biography
SUMMARY
Prof. Brian Slawson teaches undergraduate upper-division graphic design courses and, since 1990, has taught more than 500 students who work in design studios and creative agencies across the US and Florida. As well, he has chaired nearly 30 MFA-level creative projects. Slawson frequently serves on school and college commitees that link the arts with business, engineering and the sciences. He is interested in the intesection of technology, culture, typography, history, and education. Recent examples are a presentation at the UCDA Design Educators Summit (2019) on the topic of Cherokee Printing and Typefounding in the 1800s, a workshop on “Making History Visible: Design Thinking in Action” at the Humanities Education and Research Association conference (2014) in Washington, DC, and a paper on “Typographic Form and Cultural Identity: A Look at the Cherokee Alphabet and Printing Type” at a School of Visual Arts conference (2013) in New York.
BFA, Graphic Design, School of Art and Design, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
MFA, Graphic Design, School of Art and Design, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
MORE ON TEACHING
Undergraduate Teaching. Over nearly three decades, Brian has taught more than 500 undergradaute graphic design majors. Typically, he teaches studio-based design courses at the junior and senior level. These include Visualization & Creativity, Technology & Processes, Ideas & Styles, and the Senior Design Studio. Our students are creative thinkers. They have found positions at in-house corporate creative services such as ESPN, Disney, CNN, Facebook, Target, Victoria's Secret, Martha Stewart, Macy's, Starbucks, IDEO, TOMS Shoes, and the Miami Heat..
Other teaching. For three years Brian taught a course in design thinking for K12 educators as part of the summer studio program in UF Art Education. As well, he has developed and taught online courses in typography for the design school, Sessions.edu.
Graduate-Level Teaching. Brian has served as chair of more than twenty graphic design MFA committees, co-chair of several more, and has been a member on another fifteen. He has also served as an external member for MA/Phd committees in Museum Studies, English, Advertising and Mass Communication. Our MFA design students have found fulltime academic positions at Auburn University, University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State University, Ball State University, University of Texas-Pan American, Jacksonville University, University of Tampa, Western Oregon University, Murray State University, Montana State University, University of West Georgia, Belmont University, and Bahçeşehir University (Istanbul). As well, some MFA students have taken a professional path at IDEO, L'Oreal, R/GA, SapientNitro, Myjive, Florida Hospital, Frost Museum of Science, and the New York State Museum.
Following is a list of service and teaching on graduate committees while at UF...
Chair, MFA, Master of Fine Arts
Duane Bray, 1994
Beth Jahreis, 1995
Kimberly Stewart, 1996
Shaina Rappoport, 1998
Leila Membreno, 1999
Kelley Smith, 2001
Selin Ozguzer, 2003
Graciela Lopez-Nieto, 2004
Hyeja Jung, 2004
Ron Edelen, 2005
Ricardo Hernandez, 2007
Kyle White, 2008
Aaron Kirker, 2009
Nancy Schreck, 2010
Robert Finkel, 2011
Negin Jahanmiri, 2011
Garima Thakur, 2011
Jorge Perez Gallego, 2013
Myda Iamicelli, 2013
Shantanu Suman, 2013
Dan Ypsilanti, 2013
Alston Wise, 2015
Tianrei Geng, 2016
Ashley Fuchs, 2017
Daniel Leonardos, 2018
Crissy Singer, 2018
Jiaming Li, 2018
Erxuan Xu, 2019
Rachel McDonald, 2020
Maria Blokhina, 2021
Co-Chair, MFA Degree
Larry Livaudais, 1995
Eda Noyan, 2002
Member, MFA Degree
Bill Hill, 1993
Marc Shaboz, 1999
Valerie Sloan, 1999
Tse-Ming Huang, 2004
Dori Griffin, 2006
Dylan Romer, 2006
Cameron Thomas, 2006
Matt Grady, 2007
Abby Chryst, 2010
Dan Luo, 2012
Rongfei Geng, 2013
Joungyun Choi, 2014
Fuer Liu, 2015
Xun Meng, 2016
Setarah Ghoreishi, 2018
Dina Benbrahim, 2020
Michael Christopher, 2020
External Member, PhD Degree
Zach Whalen, PhD English, 2008
Aaron Kashtan, PhD English, 2011
Adrienne Grumbein, PhD Mass Communication, 2014
External Member, MA Degree
Debbie Demare, MA Mass Communications, 1999
Jing Bai, MA Advertising, 2011
Hannah Soh, MA Museology, 2012
Courtney Bahnsen, MA Museology, 2015