Faculty & Staff Catalysts

Director of Design Thinking

Associate Professor of Human Service Studies

Danielle Lake has over ten years of experience creating, implementing and assessing innovative curricula designed to build student and community-capacity for addressing wicked problems. This experience has positioned her well to continue her work as an institutional leader, cross-campus consultant and teacher-scholar of civic engagement.

With a Ph.D. in philosophy, her teaching and scholarship interests bridge Design Thinking and wicked problems research with the public engagement movement. Prior courses include “Design Thinking to Meet Real World Needs,” “Wicked Problems of Sustainability,” “Dialogue, Integration, and Action” and “Reflect, Connect, Engage.”

As the former coordinator of the award-winning Accelerated Leadership Program and research lead for ten engaged department initiatives across three institutions, she also has leadership experience creating and assessing collaborative and innovative engagement projects that span curricular programs and bridge the university-community divide.

Lake received Early Career Recognition from the International Association of the Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement in 2018, the John Saltmarsh Award for Emerging Leaders in Civic Engagement from the American Democracy Project in 2017, the John Lachs Award for Public Philosophy in 2016 and the Jane Addams Prize from the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy in 2014.

Lake is coeditor of the book series, Higher Education and Civic Democratic Engagement: Exploring Impact with Peter Lang Publishing. She is currently interested in exploring the long-term impact of design thinking practices and pedagogies of resilience.

Lake is committed to partnering with students, faculty, staff, and the surrounding Elon community in order to support design thinking initiatives.

Research Catalyst

Professor and Academic Operations Coordinator of Physician Assistant Studies and Director of Accelerated Pathways Program

Position

Elon’s Design Thinking Research Catalyst is a faculty member who engages in, supports and advances the critical study of design thinking. In addition to engaging in their own DT studies, the research catalyst also supports and advances the research accomplishments of Elon faculty, students and staff across internal and external academic communities.

Purpose

Creating research opportunities for Elon students, faculty and staff to gain the experience, confidence and competence to apply design thinking’s process, methods and mindsets to challenges.

Actions

The research catalyst:

• Offers mentorship, training and guidance to help students develop research skills and ideas inspired by design thinking across disciplines
• Works with the director of the Center to study design thinking practices and innovation in higher education
• Develops collaborative relationships and research opportunities with faculty members interested in design thinking

Bio

Dr. Tracey Thurnes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies. She has worked closely with the Center for Design Thinking to apply design thinking processes and methods within the health sciences in both the undergraduate and graduate student populations. Her work focuses on applying design thinking concepts to develop critical thinking skills and leadership and professional competencies to positively impact learning outcomes to create solutions-oriented graduates.

Curricular Catalyst

Associate Professor of Education and Graduate Director of the Master of Higher Education

Position

Elon’s Design Thinking Curricular Catalyst is a faculty member who supports the infusion of Design Thinking pedagogies across Elon curriculum. The Curricular Catalyst advances Design Thinking curricular initiatives through facilitating communities of practice, consulting with faculty and by providing resources for infusing Design Thinking methods and processes into curriculum.

Purpose

Creating opportunities to increase faculty experience, confidence and competence in implementing high impact practices rooted in Design Thinking across all disciplines.

Actions

The curricular catalyst serves as a connector for faculty across the university who want to increase students’ capacity for experiential learning with design thinking processes and methods. The curricular catalyst also works closely with the Director to design and facilitate communities of practice around design thinking pedagogies that develop collaborative relationships with faculty members interested in design thinking.

Bio

Rozanna Carducci is an Associate Professor of Education and the Graduate Director of the Master of Higher Education at Elon University. She is an active member of the editorial board for the Journal of Higher Education, and also holds active roles in NASPA Student Affairs Professionals in Higher Education, the Association for the Study of Higher Education and the American Educational Research Association. She is co-author of the book Higher Education Leadership: Challenging Tradition and Forging Possibilities that explores design thinking approaches to higher education leadership that foster liberatory systemic change.

Community Catalyst

Professor of Communication Design and Director, Graduate Programs for the School of Communications

Position

Elon’s Design Thinking Community Catalyst is a faculty member who engages in, supports and advances community-based learning, research and service through the lens and practice of equity-centered design thinking (DT). In addition to engaging in their own community-engaged design thinking projects, the Community Catalyst also supports and advances DT community initiatives of faculty, staff, student and community members.

Actions

The Community Catalyst:

• Offers mentorship, training and guidance to help develop projects inspired by equity-centered and community-based design thinking practices
• Works with the Director of the Center to study the value and the challenges of DT community-engaged projects
• Develops collaborative relationships and opportunities for faculty, students, staff and community members interested in design thinking to support community-engaged projects

Bio

Professor Phillip Motley is an Associate Professor of Communication Design. He teaches visual communication and interactive media courses to undergraduate and graduate students, and is Elon’s fourth Faculty Fellow for Service Learning and Community Engagement. He was one of the faculty architects of Elon’s Design Thinking Studio in Social Innovation, an immersive semester program focused on leveraging design thinking skills and processes towards social challenges within the community surrounding the university. He is a co-editor of Redesigning Liberal Education: Innovative Design for a Twenty-First-Century Undergraduate Education and has published widely on community-based pedagogies.