Rebecca Kelly, assistant professor of communications design in the School of Design, received a 2020 Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence from Syracuse University for Outstanding Contributions to Student Experience and University Initiatives. This award is made to members of the University faculty and staff who, through their work, have enhanced the undergraduate experience for students or made invaluable contributions to supporting and advancing the University’s mission and goals.
Kelly’s primary interests lie in teaching the importance of being an effective global citizen, and she believes designers should benefit society through visual communication. This conviction guides her teaching. She led an interdisciplinary team of colleagues, including Marc Stress (communications design), Seyeon Lee and Zoriana Dunham (environmental and interior design), Meriel Stokoe (museum studies) and Louise Manfredi (industrial and interactive design), and 60 undergraduate students to submit design proposals for a call from the United Nations Pavilion for the World Expo 2020 in Dubai.
The theme was “connecting minds, creating the future,” and the United Nations endeavor was titled the United Nations Collaboration Project. Kelly and her colleagues engaged students from every department to work for a semester in interdisciplinary subgroups to create three-dimensional models of their proposed exhibition designs. The proposed design had to be accessible, interactive, visually appealing and conceptually sound in relation to the call for proposals.
The team elevated this project beyond the classroom by raising funds and coordinating logistics to enable 60 students to present their designs in person to members of the Department for General Assembly at the United Nations in New York City. The students plan to take their work to Dubai in October 2020 for the World Expo. This extraordinary effort of instruction, mentoring and leadership coalesced into an experience that will impact students for years to come and advance the reputation of Syracuse University.