The Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman School of Fashion Design and Merchandising at Kent State University has announced the appointment of its new director, Louise Valentine, Ph.D.
An applied design researcher, Valentine most recently served as professor and chair of design at the University of Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Scotland, U.K.
“We are thrilled to have Louise join as our new Fashion School director,” said John R. Crawford-Spinelli, dean of Kent State’s College of the Arts, in a statement. “She brings exceptional experience in research, innovation and design. Her co-curricular work at the University of Dundee has prepared her with strong strategic visioning in postgraduate research and development, and she is well versed in international entrepreneurship practices and methodologies.”
Valentine is author and editor of “Prototype: Design and Craft in the 21st Century” (2013), “Past, Present and Future Craft Practice” (2010) and “New Craft Future Voices” (2007). At the University of Dundee, she supervised and examined doctoral degrees and served as lead supervisor for three design researchers sponsored by the £81M Victoria and Albert (V&A) Dundee Museum of Design. She was instrumental in helping V&A Dundee become an international center for design housed in a world-class building.
“I am excited and privileged to be appointed as the Fashion School’s next director,” Valentine said in a statement. “Kent State’s Fashion School has an excellent reputation and is establishing itself as one of the very best in the world, based on an outstanding student experience and research that transforms people’s lives through the arts. It is a strong creative community, with outstanding faculty and staff who make the school the success it is and will be in the future. I very much look forward to leading the Fashion School in its next stage of development.”
Read the full press release announcing Valentine's appointment as director.
Photo provided by Kent State University.
