I met Ve Dewey at the C&E Summer Social in June and felt an immediate alignment. Despite our differences in work experience (she has 15 years working for Mattel, Adobe, and the like), we both share a desire for long-term, holistic systems solutions rooted in an activist mentality of inclusivity. I was curious about her experience in the MBA, a 4-year-old program that is jointly operated between CSM and Birbeck University of London. The course is low-residency, with students working in monthly sprints lasting from Friday-Sunday. It’s part of a wave of new courses that are low residency or online at UAL.
Ve said that she was interested in the hybrid nature of the course and also in its newness. There were quite a few issues and student dissatisfaction with the MBA, and we compared notes about bringing feedback to course leaders and forms of leadership. She is hoping to join the Advisory Board for the MBA to continue to offer her expertise to help steer the direction of the course in the future. I didn’t know that courses had Advisory Boards and am curious if it is only the MBA or if there are others: is there an advisory board for C&E?
She said as a part-time student she had felt particularly disconnected from the rest of CSM/UAL and had been glad of the social as an opportunity to meet other students. I spoke with her about Knowledge Exchange and mentioned Darla-jane’s idea about creating a hub for exchanging skills/knowledge. Ve said she had created such an initiative at Mattel and was very interested in supporting or being part in some way. She is going to reach out to Darla-jane for a conversation.
Ve also pointed me to some resources: Leyla Acarogulu is someone working towards environmental and social change. She has an education platform The Unschool which is offering classes in “systems, sustainability, and design through the Disruptive Design Method.” I am curious if this would be someone to interview who is doing systems thinking in a non-academic setting.
She had other resources and suggestions: books—Rise of the DEO, The Creative Rebel, and Creative Leadership; the concept of Integrative thinking (from Design Thinking); Assemble Agency (social impact); and RSA Decolonizing Design coalition, of which she is the co-chair. Much of her focus is on specific design-oriented projects, but it’s interesting to get a perspective from that corner of the world.
She also suggested I look at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) as it’s a large sprawling art school (about 14,000 students) to see how they organize and operate. I’ve been wanting to compare an American Art School to the British system, but have found that most of the American schools are very small, in the 1-3,000 students range, so are less easy to compare to UAL which currently enrols 19,500 students.
It was informative to share information with Ve and think she could be a good collaborator and resource for cross-disciplinary actions like a HUB for exchange with KE.