ANDI WITCZAK
Adjunct Associate Professor
I am a designer. For as long as I can remember, I loved to make things—imaginary cities, posters, maps, poems—making something from inexpensive or found stuff (carpet remnants, construction paper, old Christmas decorations, architecture plan books). Color, texture, shape become transformed by the process of trial and error—and total immersion.
I am also an educator and activist working at the intersections of design, community, and justice. My mission is to build imaginative and creative capacity among those seeking to achieve sustainable, positive change—using design as a way to explore emerging opportunities, address complex challenges, drive innovation, and build meaningful experiences. I deeply believe that creativity and imagination are essential skillsets necessary for making changes on issues of deep concern. I envision communities with the audacity to imagine and design a world that is just and alive in possibility.
Educated in graphic design, I have a BFA and an MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My career in higher education has allowed me to take on a variety of challenging roles such as teaching design, leading campus-wide commitments to community engagement, public speaking, and facilitating campus-community leadership development workshops.