Cecilia McCormick has devoted her career to education, institutional transformation, and community impact. At MICA, she is advancing an academic vision that positions the College at the forefront of the creative economy’s new golden age—where human imagination drives progress alongside technology. Her leadership has strengthened MICA’s fiscal health, expanded career pathways through Creative Experiential Learning, and unified academic and community initiatives under new Centers of Excellence. A first-generation college graduate and former president of Elizabethtown College, McCormick has also held senior leadership roles at Thomas Jefferson University, Johns Hopkins University, and Widener University. She holds a J.D. from Delaware Law School, a B.S. from Saint Joseph’s University, and completed post-doctoral work in higher education management from Harvard University.

Eric Freedman holds a Ph.D. from the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California and brings a deep commitment to creative scholarship, interdisciplinary innovation, and academic excellence. He previously served as Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at Truman State University and as Dean of the School of Media Arts at Columbia College Chicago. A scholar and media artist, he is the author of Artificial Intelligence and Playable Media (Routledge, 2023) and other works exploring technology and digital culture. His creative work has been exhibited internationally, reflecting a lifelong dedication to public-facing and socially engaged media practice.

Raymond Duff Barclay is a senior innovation and strategy leader whose work bridges entrepreneurship, industry collaboration, and creative-economy development. As Senior Vice President for Enrollment Strategy, Innovation & Partnerships at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), he advances initiatives that integrate design, systems thinking, and enterprise development to position MICA as a global catalyst for creative innovation. Barclay’s entrepreneurial background—including founding creative-sector ventures in sustainable fashion and design and running a design and strategy firm—pairs with private-sector experience leading national client-success and service-design operations for a technology company. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and a master’s in Sustainable Design.

Michael Weiss has been a full-time MICA faculty member since 2003, teaching in the Drawing, Foundation (now FYE), General Fine Arts, and Painting departments. He previously served as Associate Dean of Fine Arts for eleven years and held additional administrative roles including Associate Dean of Foundation/FYE and Interim Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies. An artist working in painting and stained glass, Weiss uses traditional materials to create contemporary imagery rich with layered meaning. His work has been widely exhibited, supported by grants from the Creative Baltimore Fund and the Maryland State Arts Council, and is included in numerous private and corporate collections.

Mike Weikert has extensive experience and leadership in graphic design, design for social impact, human-centered design, and creative strategy. He founded MICA’s MA in Social Design—the first program of its kind in the U.S.—and established the Center for Social Design and the Center for Design Practice, building models that unite students, faculty, and partners in real-world problem-solving. He has served as a creative director at Iconologic and a design consultant for the International Olympic Committee. His contributions to design education and practice have earned him the Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Award, nomination for the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, and recognition from a variety of books and publications.

Lee Davis co-founded MICA’s Center for Social Design and served as Interim Director of the M.A. in Social Design. He also co-founded NESsT that has invested over $40 million in social enterprises across Latin America and Eastern Europe. His leadership in social entrepreneurship and design has been recognized with the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, and fellowships from the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and the Yale School of Management. He is a founding curator of the Ecological Design Collective, and co-chair of Winterhouse Institute, a national community of practice for social design educators.

Carissa Aoki is an applied ecologist and educator whose work bridges science, design, and social justice. As Area Head for Ecosystems, Sustainability, and Justice at MICA, she leads an interdisciplinary program that equips students to address environmental and social challenges through creative practice. Drawing on degrees in both the humanities and sciences, her projects emphasize collaboration, community engagement, and the translation of research into actionable tools that advance environmental justice and sustainable design.

Kristian Bjørnard is a designer, educator, and sustainabilitist who leads Wjerk, a climate-design studio. His practice connects editorial design, circular economies, and open-source tools to advance ecological restoration and systems change. Throughout his career, he has worked across publishing, biodiesel production, and web development, and regenerative design. At MICA, he prepares students to shape the world they imagine through multidisciplinary collaboration, using design as a tool for inquiry, expression, and understanding the political, economic, and social systems that shape their work.

Thomas Gardner is an architect, designer, and educator whose work applies human-centered, community-engaged, and material-based design to address social and spatial challenges. He directs MICA’s MA in Social Design program and co-founded HousingOperative, a Detroit-based design-build agency advancing architecture for social and cultural change. His practice spans hands-on construction, large-scale public projects, and research focused on drawing, representation, and full-scale fabrication. Thomas has taught at RISD, Parsons, and Lawrence Tech, has conducted design workshops globally, and previously led Studio H, a design-build program for high school students.

Ryan Hoover collaborates across disciplines and species to develop innovative making practices that explore and improve our world. Drawing on philosophy, art, and traditional craft, he integrates digital and biological technologies into his work, which is exhibited internationally and held in museum and private collections. At MICA, he leads education and research programs in biodesign, emphasizing care and new modes of living together. His projects include Xylinus, a 3D-printing tool, and NSF-funded research converting micro-algae and desalination waste into carbon-sequestering materials for sustainable habitats. He serves on the board of the Haystack Mountain School of Craft.

Christina Jenkins is an educator and artist whose work explores how community-driven design can reshape learning systems and support social change. After a decade teaching in New York City K–12 schools, she now consults nationally, helping educators prototype new learning models grounded in democratic and participatory practices. At MICA, she served as interim director of the MA in Social Design and teaches in the program, focusing on design’s role in mobilizing collective agency and building solidarity economies. She is also a writer, neighbor and parent.

Anastasia Laurenzi holds a Master of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA in Photography and Sculpture from the University of Memphis. With 25 years of experience, she has worked with firms including Friedrich St.Florian Architects, Oblique Studio, KPF, Richard Fleischner Studio, and buildingstudio. Her photography has been exhibited at Jack Robinson Gallery and at institutions such as the RISD Museum. Her architectural design work has been highlighted in publications including domino and Dezeen. Previously, she served as a critic and coordinator at RISD, taught design/build at Yestermorrow Design/Build School, and architectural design at Roger Williams University.

Ben Luzzatto is an interdisciplinary artist. His work includes sculpture, architecture, engineering, and object design. His pedagogy is informed by his writing on the philosophy of language. Intimate relationships with timeless, natural systems and individual agency in the face of larger existential threats, like climate change, are at the center of Ben’s practice. He has taught at MICA since 2004, and holds a bachelor’s degree from Vassar College along with a Master of Science in Visual Studies from MIT.

Karl Williamson is a designer and educator working at the intersection of industrial design, emerging technologies, and experimental prototyping. Before joining MICA, he was the first Product Design program coordinator at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala and led the development of a 25,000 sq. ft. prototyping lab in the University of Wisconsin’s College of Engineering. His practice explores how technology mediates craft, materiality, and non-human agency, often through collaborative work with his partner, weaver Hellen Ascoli. At MICA, he guides students in user-centered, speculative, and material-driven design, contributing to the mission of interdisciplinary innovation.