marcia lausen
Founding Director, School of Design, University of Illinois at Chicago
Marcia Lausen founded the School of Design at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) and the Chicago office of Studio/lab. At UIC Marcia led a renowned faculty of professional designers variously engaged in contemporary interdisciplinary research and practice. At Studio/lab, she and her colleagues integrate four areas of communication design practice: identity, information, publication, and environment. Following the 2000 U.S. presidential election, Marcia played a leading role in Design for Democracy, a national election design reform initiative of AIGA. Her book of the same title was published in 2007 by the University of Chicago Press. Marcia was named a 2004 Fast Company Master of Design and a 2010 Fellow of AIGA. In 2015 she received the AIGA Medal.