The Polydisciplinary Lens
Working across platforms such as woodworking, writing, painting, printmaking, 3D modeling, graphic design, consumer product and industrial design, I have developed a polydisciplinary approach. The polydisciplinary approach does not allude to an oscillation between media or a synthesis of independent approaches. Also, the word ‘polydicsciplinary’ is a proxy for an approach that eschews notions of the “intersection” of disciplines or the “mixing” of media. Instead, work is idea-driven and rooted in language, with decisions about materials and processes shifting along the way.
For Karla Gutierrez Cuevas, Ph.D. ’17, the start of her Kent State journey brought a mix of excitement and uncertainty. “When I got accepted, I was pregnant,” Karla recalled. “In Mexico, there’s the perception that being a mother and pursuing a demanding academic career don’t go hand in hand. I was hesitant about whether I could do both.” That hesitation changed after a conversation with Robin Selinger, Ph.D., a professor whose words gave Karla the courage she needed. “I was eight months postpartum when I arrived, and I had just sold all my belongings and left my job in Mexico,” Kar...
Kent State American Academy student Alexandre Andrade sat barefoot in a Chinese business meeting last summer, dressed in a suit but without shoes or socks, sipping tea with manufacturing executives.It wasn't what Andrade expected when he left his hometown of Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, where he was enrolled in the American Academy, a dual-enrollment program offered jointly by Kent State and the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR), located in Curitiba.But the 21-year-old, who is majoring in marketing and entrepreneurship at the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and En...