I am an associate professor at Cornell University in the Department of Textiles and Apparel. My PhD and MA degrees were in Applied Design at the University of Minnesota; at the Masters level I specialized in theory of design and color with particular emphasis on textiles, and a minor in Museology; at the PhD level I pursued design foundations education practice and theory, and minored in Art History.

I teach courses in design foundations and cultural/historical aspects of textile and apparel design. I was an early adopter of new computer teaching technologies, recognizing the computer as a very apt tool for visual studies and creative design production. I created the first full-blown online course textbook for FSAD 125 Art Design and Visual Thinking; I also introduced the teaching of Photoshop to the FSAD curriculum when I developed a course on Photoshop in Textile Design; a course that was subsequently folded into the foundation CAD course taught to all entering freshmen. I also teach FSAD 370 History of color and design in textiles and FSAD 675 Aesthetics and meaning in world dress.

My life-long connection to Turkey and past development work there has led me to take advantage of my networks, knowledge of the language and culture to pursue my research there on historical and cultural aspects of the design of textiles and dress. This research has led to publications on these topics, but also to long-term collaborations with Universities in curriculum development projects as well as joint research efforts that have resulting in visiting scholar collaborations here at Cornell as well as joint publications and presentations. More recently this experience has been applied to a collaborative USDA-funded educational development project on issues of social responsibility in the global textile and apparel industry, the end product of which will be a series of online distance learning courses.