Faculty

Profile

Rhea Alexander is an Assistant Professor of Strategic Design & Management in the School of Design Strategies (SDS) and former Assoc. Director of the undergraduate BBA Strategic Design and Management Program (2019-20), and former Co-director of the MS Strategic Design and Management program for three years until Summer 2018. She is the Founder and Director of the Parsons Entrepreneurs Lab, dedicated to research and practice of design-driven entrepreneurship. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, and mentor fellows in the Elab fellowship. Her research is centered around new educational models and support for design-driven impact entrepreneurship. 

Prior to her faculty appointment, Rhea practiced architecture and product design before becoming an award-winning impact entrepreneur in the lifestyle sector. For over 20 yrs her clients included many top retailers and museum stores such as Barney’s, Lane Crawford, MoMA Store and Mandarin Oriental.

With over 25 years experience pioneering design-driven triple bottom line values, she has consulted for NGO’s in the int’l economic development sector as well as USAid working with SME’s and artisans in over 16 countries, her work took her from Nicaragua to Tanzania, from West Bank to Vietnam and beyond.

She is currently on the Board of Directors for NYC Innovation Collective and is a Co-founder of Make Our Future, a global consulting cooperative helping organizations transition to more sustainable practices. Coming in early 2023, a new book entitled A Design-Driven Guide for Entreprneur: Strategies for Starting Up in a Multiverse, published by Routledge.

Degrees Held

Rhea received a BFA in Environmental Design from Parsons School of Design and an MA in Media Studies from The New School.

Professional Affiliation

NYC Innovation Collective, The National Arts Club

Recent Publications

Practice What We Teach, Journal of 21st Century Education, 2016, [ISSN 2330 1236]     Co-authors Rhea Alexander and  Aaron Fry

Design-entrepreneurship in the post-recession economy: Parsons ELab, a Design School Incubator, Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseño y Comunicación Nº 64, 2016 [ISSN: 1668-0227] Co-authors Rhea Alexander, Aaron Fry and Samar Ladhib

Breaking Boundaries: A Unique Inter-University Program Addressing the 21st Century Skills Gap
Co-authored by Rhea Alexander, Matthew Stewart and Shane Snipes https://www.academia.edu/40757691/Breaking_Boundaries_A_Unique_Inter-University_Program_Addressing_the_21st_Century_Skills_Gap

Managing Vulnerability and Uncertainty: Building designerly ways of doing within non-designer teams https://www.academia.edu/40757689/Managing_Vulnerability_and_Uncertainty_Developing_design_competencies_within_an_American_healthcare_non_profit_20191027_111886_1iiogdk   Co- Authors: Rhea ALexander, Sarah Jones and Vinay Kumar Mysore

Future Pathways for Design-Driven Entrepreneurship Education Future Pathways for Design-Driven Entrepreneurship Education (pp 365-378)

Strategic Design and the Future of Work-and-Wellness https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/t2K99IfB52yfQ3xNynfp/full?target=10.1080%2F24735132.2019.1584024&  Co-authors Rhea Alexander and  Aaron Fry

Research Interests

Design-driven impact entrepreneurship, new business models, sustainability and education.