In celebration of the centennial of Parsons Paris, a series of thematic roundtables will be held online in order to reflect on the fast-evolving state of higher education in art & design schools, and at Parsons Paris in particular.
These provocative discussions will address pressing matters reshaping the academic missions of Parsons Paris, a century after its creation. Through exchanges with specialists from academia and practitioners, curators, colleagues in New York and in other institutions with ties to our Parsons Paris undergraduate and graduate programs, we will address the contemporary and future challenges faced by higher education in art and design.
Bridget O’Rourke
Director, BFA Art, Media and Technology, Parsons Paris
Faculty, BFA Art, Media and Technology, Parsons Paris
Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo
Dean, School of Design Strategies at Parsons School of Design
Faculty, School of Design Strategies at Parsons School of Design
Francesca Bonesio
Co-Coordinator First Year, Parsons Paris
Faculty, First Year and BBA Art, Media and Technology, Parsons Paris
Miriam Josi
Faculty, First Year, Parsons Paris
Faculty, MFA Fashion Design and the Arts, Parsons Paris
Tuomas Laitinen
Director, BFA Fashion Design, Parsons Paris
Director, MFA Fashion Design and the Arts, Parsons Paris
Miki Omori
Design Supervisor, MFA Fashion Design and the Arts, Parsons Paris
Dan Thawley
Editor-in-Chief, A Magazine Curated by
Spencer Phipps
Creative Director, Phipps International
Azza Yousif
Creative Consultant, Stylist and Fashion Editor
Marco Pecorari, PhD.
Assistant-Professor and Director, MA Fashion Studies
Morna Laing, PhD.
Assistant-Professor in Fashion Studies
Hazel Clark, PhD.
Professor of Design Studies and Fashion Studies
Sarah Cheang, PhD.
MA Director RCA - V&A MA in History of Design
Karolien De Clippel, PhD.
Director, Fashion Museum Hasselt
Francesca Bonesio
Co-Coordinator, First Year and Faculty
Emmanuel Cohen, PhD.
Co-Coordinator, First Year and Faculty, and Assistant-Professor of Performance Studies
Anette Millington
Associate Dean, First Year, School of ADHT and Assistant Professor of Fashion Systems and Materiality, Parsons School of Design
John Roach
Associate professor of Fine Arts, School of Design Strategies, Parsons School of Design
Matylda Taszycka
Head of Scientific Programs at Aware Women Artists
Yvonne Watson
Dean, Curriculum + Learning & Advisor to the Provost Office on Curriculum
Dr. Renée T. White joined The New School August 1, 2021 as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. Dr. White is a distinguished academic leader, higher education administrator, and scholar of race, gender, and social inequality. From 2016, she had served as Provost and Professor of Sociology at Wheaton College in Massachusetts
Florence Leclerc-Dickler is the dean of Parsons Paris. She is also senior director for Strategic Academic Partnerships and works on both campuses — New York and Paris — of The New School. Leclerc-Dickler has spent most of her life abroad and currently lives in the United States and France. She obtained her master's degree in translation from the École de Traduction et d’Interprétation of Geneva, Switzerland, as well as an MBA in Marketing from SUNY New Paltz. For a number of years, she chaired the Foreign Languages Department at The New School in New York, where she taught all levels of French language and culture. In 2013, she moved back to France to relaunch Parsons Paris. Leclerc-Dickler is also an associate professor of foreign languages and a novelist.
Our studies occupy unstable sites between disciplines, among diverse identities and varied categories of beings. Synthesis, recognition and possible resolution can only occur following honest, open collisions and acknowledgment of difference. The arts are valuable because they allow exploration, play, failure and surprise, tools often unavailable in politics and economic life. They allow the extension of identity and imagination. But they also require framing, discipline and clear representation.
Bridget O’Rourke is an artist, designer and educator based in Paris. Her teaching focuses on creative process, art and design methodologies and transdisciplinary collaboration. She is an internationally exhibited painter whose abstract work engages microcosmically with questions of conflict, balance, reciprocity, negotiation and resolution. Her video work explores the aesthetics of destructive processes linked to the climate crisis.
Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based Colombian digital artist, technologist, and educator. She is Dean of the School of Design Strategies, Associate Dean of Parsons, and Associate Professor of Integrated Design. Cynthia co-founded and currently directs the DEED Research Lab which brings together students, faculty, and external partners from business, design, development, and policy to model more equitable ways for designers to work with artisans, and for artisans to sustain their livelihoods.
Miriam Josi is a Paris based designer and educator. Material explorations, objects and still lifes are part of an ongoing research and playful process that examine locality, material temporalities and perceptions of value. Her recent practice explores regenerative fabrication processes through myco-collaboration.
This roundtable will focus on how to merge sustainability with creativity in the fashion industry and fashion education. We will talk about how to create sustainable yet desirable fashion design on a very high artistic and product level. We will also discuss how to communicate sustainable practices, positive thinking and encouraging design tools rather than obstacles limiting creative options in the education of future fashion professionals.
Fashion and education have been part of Miki Omori’s life for as long as she can remember. An early interest in fashion inspired her to sketch clothing designs by the time she was five years old. But by the age of 10, she had decided to become a teacher. She never imagined that someday she would be able to combine her love of fashion design with her aspiration to teach.
Spencer Phipps was born and raised in San Francisco. He studied at Parsons School of Design in New York City graduating in 2008 with a nomination as “designer of the year” for his final year collection - an initial exploration of sustainable fashion. He started his career at Marc Jacobs as part of the menswear design team and after, relocated to Antwerp to work with Dries Van Noten as their first american menswear designer. He is currently based in Paris where he pursues his passion for rock climbing and other outdoor activities.
Azza Yousif is a French-Sudanese stylist, creative consultant and writer based in Paris. Born in Cairo, she travelled the world as a child, learning to speak four languages along the way. After graduating from Studio Berçot, she began her career in fashion working for designer Andre Walker, who encouraged her to try fashion styling. Soon after, she was hired at Vogue Paris under then editor in chief Carine Roitfeld. From 2009 to 2019, she was Fashion Editor at Vogue Hommes. In 2019 she worked closely with designer Lamine Kouyaté to help him relaunch his ’90s fashion brand, XULY.Bët. In 2021 she was fashion director of GQ France under the helm of EIC Olivier Lalanne
This roundtable will focus on the emerging issues in fashion studies - exploring issues of decoloniality, canon formation, and academic contexts for the field. We will also focus on the relationship with the industry and the potential impact of fashion studies in the public discourse about fashion in cultural institutions and the system of fashion.
Dr. Morna Laing is Assistant Professor in Fashion Studies at The New School, Parsons Paris and holds a PhD from University of the Arts London. She is author of Picturing the Woman-child (2021) and co-editor of Revisiting the Gaze (2020), with Dr. Jacki Willson. Her current research focuses on sustainability and the fashion media.
Dr Marco Pecorari is Assistant Professor and Director of the MA in Fashion Studies at The New School Parsons Paris where he teaches fashion theory and curation. His latest monograph is titled Fashion Remains: Rethinking Ephemera in The Archive (Bloomsbury 2021) and he's the co-editor of the forthcoming volume Fashion, Performance and Performativity (Bloomsbury 2021).
Dr Sarah Cheang is Head of Programme for History of Design at the Royal College of Art, London. Her research centres on East Asian transnational fashion, ethnicity, material culture and the body from the nineteenth century to the present day, on which she has published widely. As a founder member of the Research Collective for Decoloniality and Fashion, Sarah works closely with a group of international scholars and activists who look to counter Eurocentricism in fashion studies and to push for equality, cultural sensitivity and more inclusive and caring world-views in the fashion industry. Sarah’s teaching interests reflect this commitment to more inclusive curricula and decolonial approaches, through experimental teaching methods and the research-led initiative OPEN. Her recent publications include the co-edited volume Rethinking Fashion Globalization (2021), which engages with more inclusive models, approaches and understandings of global fashion systems.
Karolien De Clippel (PhD. KU Leuven 2002) is director of the Fashion Museum Hasselt in Belgium since 2017. Before starting at the museum in 2015, where she worked first as a collections’ curator, she was an associate professor in art history at Utrecht University. During her academic career she has been doing research on early modern Flemish and Dutch painting with a special inclination for individual artists as Peter Paul Rubens and Adriaen Brouwer and a particular attention for genre, classical mythology and, increasingly, for fashion. She has taught a wide variety of courses at the bachelor and master level. Through the years she was imbued with a growing awareness that in the Low Countries dress and fashion are enormously understudied and underestimated. This belief combined with her love for object-based research made her switch to the ‘fashionable’ museum field.
The purpose of this roundtable is to actively reflect on the way Art and Design Education can stay in sync with current changes in society, in the working world, and in the roles artists, designers and entrepreneurs are assuming today.
How can Parsons Paris stay relevant and serve equally, inclusive and rightly its diverse student community? What curriculum should be implemented for Art and Design education to stay in sync with a perpetual changing society? What are the references and skills that need to be taught today? Are our male and Western-centric dominated sets of references out of sync with today’s realities, and how to replace them?
Experienced, innovative Associate Professor, Design Thinker & Educator skilled in design, fashion and textiles educational curriculum and leadership development in the higher education field. A Designer and Maker, inspired by a vision for new forms of curricula with emphasis on transformative learning and experiential and partnering opportunities to improve student, faculty and organizational outcomes. Deep experience in educational organizational change, talent management and curricula development at national and international level. A natural leader, mentor and motivator, brings empathy, active listening and strong communication skills.
Matylda Taszycka is Head of Scientific Programmes at AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions, co-founded and directed by Camille Morineau, where she leads initiatives and directs research on women artists from the 19th and 20th centuries. Among other things, she is in charge of the planning of conferences in partnership with museums and universities, as well as the coordination of the AWARE Prize for women artists. A graduate from the École du Louvre in Paris, she worked at the Monnaie de Paris, before joining the Polish Institute of Paris as Head of Visual Arts.
Matylda Taszycka is also an independent curator and art critic.
The ancient Greeks believed that the liberal arts were essential for preparing free citizens to take an active part in civic life. During the Renaissance, the liberal arts were a key element in elevating the social status of the artist from manual craftsperson to intellectual thinker; artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, argued that painting and sculpture should be considered an intellectual activity based on its relevance to understanding the liberal arts. The panel will highlight continuity and change in preparing young people to question the status quo and prepare for the challenges of the 21st century.
The round-table discussion will treat the following topics:
Digital era — what challenges and opportunities are available in the digital mediascape?
Are liberal arts-related skills up to date with today’s and tomorrow’s professional world? We will discuss recent trends in employment where a well-rounded education and the ability to draw information from many different disciplines and sources can become assets in certain professional fields.
Liberal arts in an art and design school: how do domains of knowledge cross-pollinate? How do thinking, making and writing come together in today’s creative industries? What is the new pedagogy that supports this system?
For the past five years, Loren has served as the head of human resources and finance at Parsons Paris. Additionally, he is the Coordinator of ADHT and teaches Integrative Seminar in the First Year curriculum. Previous to his role at Parsons Paris, Loren worked in the field of study abroad, leading language and immersion programs in Brittany, Paris and Barcelona; as such, he has worked closely with students as an educator, mentor and guide. A co-founder of APUAF, an association that groups all American study abroad programs in France, he is also a founding member and on the executive board of EUASA, a pan-European organization that promotes best practices in US study abroad programs.
Loren holds a PhD in French Literature with a minor in Art History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has published a book and numerous articles and reviews in the fields of literature, gender studies, live theater performance, and international education.
Stephanie Nadalo is Assistant Professor of Art and Design History at Parsons Paris. She earned her doctorate (Ph.D.) in History from Northwestern University where she previously completed an M.A. in Art History. She pursued her undergraduate studies at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Stephanie’s research has benefited from grants including the Fulbright Fellowship to Italy, the American Academy in Rome Prize, and a visiting Fellowship from the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. She has published on a variety of topics. Her doctoral research examined the urban history of religious minorities in Early Modern Italy. More recently her work explores the intersection between museology and cultural pluralism in France from the 19th century to the present. When she is not in the classroom Stephanie works as a museum guide at institutions including the Louvre and the Museum of Jewish Art & History.
Joseph Heathcott teaches at The New School in New York, where he serves as Chair of Urban and Environmental Studies. His work explores cities, design, and metropolitan forms within a global, comparative perspective. Much of his work over the past decade has been to connect humanities and social sciences with practice fields such as architecture, planning, policy, and urban design. In 2010-2011, he held the U.S. Fulbright Distinguished Chair for the United Kingdom at the University of the Arts in London, and was a Senior Visiting Scholar at the London School of Economics. In 2016-2017, he was the Mellon Distinguished Fellow in Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities at Princeton University. In 2019 he taught at Parsons Paris, and also served as a Visiting Scholar at L'École Urbanine, Sciences Po. Heathcott is past President of the Society for City and Regional Planning History, and currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of the Society for Architectural Historians and the Journal of the American Planning Association. He has been invited to lecture, consult, and jury design reviews in a variety of venues both in the U.S. and internationally, including most recently the Royal College of Art in London, Yale University School of Architecture, the Istanbul Institute for Research, Glasgow School of Art, University of Amsterdam, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Columbia University GSAPP, and the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
He is the founder of Manuvo, a design consultancy that helps cultural organizations harness the power of digital technologies to engage their audiences and appeal to new ones. In 2016, the MIT Technology Review named Maurits to its list of Innovators Under 35, an honor given to young innovators at the vanguard of technology finding solutions to global problems.
Gina Luria Walker is an intellectual historian who investigates alternatives to traditional accounts of the past. She is the Director of The Center for The New Historia, recently launched at The New School, whose mission is to present authoritative, multidisciplinary scholarship on women’s contributions to society, to broadcast these stories on a pioneering, interactive platform and at public events, and to reveal an alternative history that values the roles women have always played in human endeavors. Dr. Walker is a pioneer in the global project of feminist historical recovery of earlier women.
Founded in 1994, Petronio and Associates is a creative agency known for collaborating with some of the most renowned names in the fashion and advertising industries. American-born, Petronio works and lives in France.
Petronio is also famous for creating the independent magazine Self Service where he worked as creative director and photographer. His work is featured in books and magazines, as well as in museums such as Dallas Contemporary.
Committed to amplifying diverse voices, The New School offers more than a thousand public programs and events each year, providing fresh perspectives and unique learning opportunities. These lectures, exhibitions, concerts, and performances feature prominent and emerging artists, activists, and thought leaders.
To receive updates about public programs and events at The New School, subscribe to our mailing list. Visit our Livestream and YouTube channels to watch select events live and recorded.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum sagittis mi eu elementum malesuada. Maecenas arcu felis, suscipit vitae mi in, posuere ultricies nunc. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut ante velit, condimentum eget erat a, suscipit porttitor nisl. Pellentesque in semper nunc. Duis ultricies lacus nec dolor elementum efficitur. Cras congue neque et ipsum egestas, tincidunt tempor magna elementum. Maecenas in rhoncus ante, ac mattis lectus. Donec pulvinar nulla a varius malesuada. Ut auctor enim mi, mollis laoreet eros aliquam eget. Proin lectus tellus, ullamcorper nec neque a, ornare facilisis tellus. Proin in eros sit amet diam imperdiet varius. Duis tincidunt dolor nibh, ac interdum odio molestie vel. Cras dignissim enim at mi varius aliquet.
Stephanie Nadalo is Assistant Professor of Art and Design History at Parsons Paris. She earned her doctorate (Ph.D.) in History from Northwestern University where she previously completed an M.A. in Art History. She pursued her undergraduate studies at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Stephanie’s research has benefited from grants including the Fulbright Fellowship to Italy, the American Academy in Rome Prize, and a visiting Fellowship from the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. She has published on a variety of topics. Her doctoral research examined the urban history of religious minorities in Early Modern Italy. More recently her work explores the intersection between museology and cultural pluralism in France from the 19th century to the present. When she is not in the classroom Stephanie works as a museum guide at institutions including the Louvre and the Museum of Jewish Art & History.
For the past five years, Loren has served as the head of human resources and finance at Parsons Paris. Additionally, he is the Coordinator of ADHT and teaches Integrative Seminar in the First Year curriculum. Previous to his role at Parsons Paris, Loren worked in the field of study abroad, leading language and immersion programs in Brittany, Paris and Barcelona; as such, he has worked closely with students as an educator, mentor and guide. A co-founder of APUAF, an association that groups all American study abroad programs in France, he is also a founding member and on the executive board of EUASA, a pan-European organization that promotes best practices in US study abroad programs.
Loren holds a PhD in French Literature with a minor in Art History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has published a book and numerous articles and reviews in the fields of literature, gender studies, live theater performance, and international education.
Dr. Renée T. White joined The New School August 1, 2021 as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. Dr. White is a distinguished academic leader, higher education administrator, and scholar of race, gender, and social inequality. From 2016, she had served as Provost and Professor of Sociology at Wheaton College in Massachusetts.
Previously, Dr. White was Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Simmons University from 2011 to 2016. Before Simmons, she was Professor of Sociology and Black Studies and Academic Coordinator for Diversity and Global Citizenship at Fairfield University. She began her academic career at Purdue University, where she held a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology and the African American Studies Research Center.
Her current research is in three areas: the impact of public discourse on social policy concerning reproductive rights, representations of Blackness in popular culture, and applications of black feminist theory to higher education leadership. She is co-editor of the recently published book Afrofuturism in Black Panther: Gender, Identity, and the Re-Making of Blackness. She holds an AB with honors from Brown University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University.
Joseph Heathcott teaches at The New School in New York, where he serves as Chair of Urban and Environmental Studies. His work explores cities, design, and metropolitan forms within a global, comparative perspective. Much of his work over the past decade has been to connect humanities and social sciences with practice fields such as architecture, planning, policy, and urban design. In 2010-2011, he held the U.S. Fulbright Distinguished Chair for the United Kingdom at the University of the Arts in London, and was a Senior Visiting Scholar at the London School of Economics. In 2016-2017, he was the Mellon Distinguished Fellow in Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities at Princeton University. In 2019 he taught at Parsons Paris, and also served as a Visiting Scholar at L'École Urbanine, Sciences Po. Heathcott is past President of the Society for City and Regional Planning History, and currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of the Society for Architectural Historians and the Journal of the American Planning Association. He has been invited to lecture, consult, and jury design reviews in a variety of venues both in the U.S. and internationally, including most recently the Royal College of Art in London, Yale University School of Architecture, the Istanbul Institute for Research, Glasgow School of Art, University of Amsterdam, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Columbia University GSAPP, and the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Experienced, innovative Associate Professor, Design Thinker & Educator skilled in design, fashion and textiles educational curriculum and leadership development in the higher education field. A Designer and Maker, inspired by a vision for new forms of curricula with emphasis on transformative learning and experiential and partnering opportunities to improve student, faculty and organizational outcomes. Deep experience in educational organizational change, talent management and curricula development at national and international level. A natural leader, mentor and motivator, brings empathy, active listening and strong communication skills.
Additionally experience in Nonprofit Organizations, capacity building for the development of women entrepreneurs in Mongolia, Ethiopia. Experience in research design, communication globally on the supply/value chain and the elevation and impacting of artisan based communities, in areas such as Peru, Mexico, Haiti, Nepal.
Matylda Taszycka is Head of Scientific Programmes at AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions, co-founded and directed by Camille Morineau, where she leads initiatives and directs research on women artists from the 19th and 20th centuries. Among other things, she is in charge of the planning of conferences in partnership with museums and universities, as well as the coordination of the AWARE Prize for women artists. A graduate from the École du Louvre in Paris, she worked at the Monnaie de Paris, before joining the Polish Institute of Paris as Head of Visual Arts.
Matylda Taszycka is also an independent curator and art critic.
AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions, co-founded in 2014 by Camille Morineau, is a French non-profit association the purpose of which is the creation, indexation and diffusion of information about women artists from the 19th and 20th centuries. AWARE operates through partnerships with museums, universities, and research centers. AWARE also has an international outlook and organizes events (symposia, academic study days, prizes and fellowships, guided visits) aimed at making these artists visible, owns a documentation center, and publishes a website entirely dedicated to women artists of the 19th and 20th centuries: www.awarewomenartists.com.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum sagittis mi eu elementum malesuada. Maecenas arcu felis, suscipit vitae mi in, posuere ultricies nunc. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut ante velit, condimentum eget erat a, suscipit porttitor nisl. Pellentesque in semper nunc. Duis ultricies lacus nec dolor elementum efficitur. Cras congue neque et ipsum egestas, tincidunt tempor magna elementum. Maecenas in rhoncus ante, ac mattis lectus. Donec pulvinar nulla a varius malesuada. Ut auctor enim mi, mollis laoreet eros aliquam eget. Proin lectus tellus, ullamcorper nec neque a, ornare facilisis tellus. Proin in eros sit amet diam imperdiet varius. Duis tincidunt dolor nibh, ac interdum odio molestie vel. Cras dignissim enim at mi varius aliquet.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum sagittis mi eu elementum malesuada. Maecenas arcu felis, suscipit vitae mi in, posuere ultricies nunc. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut ante velit, condimentum eget erat a, suscipit porttitor nisl. Pellentesque in semper nunc. Duis ultricies lacus nec dolor elementum efficitur. Cras congue neque et ipsum egestas, tincidunt tempor magna elementum. Maecenas in rhoncus ante, ac mattis lectus. Donec pulvinar nulla a varius malesuada. Ut auctor enim mi, mollis laoreet eros aliquam eget. Proin lectus tellus, ullamcorper nec neque a, ornare facilisis tellus. Proin in eros sit amet diam imperdiet varius. Duis tincidunt dolor nibh, ac interdum odio molestie vel. Cras dignissim enim at mi varius aliquet.
