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 David Van Zandt, President, The New School
Since becoming president of The New School in 2011, David E. Van Zandt has advanced a vision for the university that elevates its core values of creativity, innovation, and social engagement. He has advanced a set of strategic initiatives that enhance The New School’s commitment to student success, global education, new and distinctive educational models, and assessment, He has written and lectured on higher education cost and accountability, how universities can prepare students for success in the creative economy, and the value of differentiated education that emphasizes design-thinking, creativity, risk, and entrepreneurial approaches. Prior to becoming The New School’s president, David was dean of Northwestern University School of Law from 1995 to 2011. With a background in sociology and law, Mr. Van Zandt has published and presented on international finance, religion, social theory, and legal education. He was an associate with Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun. He holds an AB from Princeton University, a JD from Yale Law School, and a PhD from the London School of Economics.
 Joel Towers, Executive Dean, Parsons The New School for Design
Joel Edwin Towers is the Executive Dean of Parsons The New School For Design. From 2007-2009 Towers was the Dean of the School of Design Strategies [SDS] at Parsons and Associate Professor of Architecture and Sustainable Design at Parsons. SDS houses Parsons' programs in Design and Management, Foundation, Integrated Design, as well as new initiatives in environmental and sustainable design, urban design, and transdisciplinary design. Towers was the first Director of the Tishman Environment and Design Center [TED] at The New School and the Associate Provost for Environmental Studies at the university. TED supports the new university-wide BA and BS Environmental Studies degrees and is unique in its approach to design-led research in tandem with historical and social inquiry, placing an emphasis on innovation within the context of cultural, economic, and ecological factors. Towers first came to Parsons in 2002 as the Director of Sustainable Design and Urban Ecology. Towers is a founding partner [1992] of SR+T Architects. He received a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Michigan School of Architecture and a Master of Architecture from Columbia University. Towers' focus on ecological issues and their relationship to both design conceptualization and construction methodology underlies his theoretical research and his teaching. It is also central in the work of SR+T. Towers was previously a member of the faculty of the Graduate School of Architecture at Columbia University where he taught advanced architecture and urban design studios and developed and taught a seminar exploring critical ecologies and environmentally reflexive architecture. http://www.srtarchitects.com/
 Alison Mears, Associate Dean and Assistant Professor of Architecture, School of Design Strategy at Parsons
Alison Mears AIA LEED AP is the current Dean of the School of Design Strategies. Past Director of the BFA Architecture and Interior Design programs in the School of Constructed Environments and an Assistant Professor of Architecture. Alison teaches interdisciplinary studios in SCE and in SDS projects in the BS Urban Design program. Past projects have been located in a number of US urban contexts, often in a partnership with the New School (Milano graduate students) and Parsons design students (graduate and undergraduates) and with a range of nonprofit organizations. Past projects have been located in New Orleans as part of the Chase competition, community based programs (part of the Solar Decathlon project) in Deanwood, Washington DC, in Skid Row, LA with the Skid Row Housing Authority and in Greensboro NC. Alison is also leading a team of designers working on the design and construction of the St.. George's school in Gondar, Ethiopia and advisor for Donna Karan's Urban Zen Vocational Center for Artisans in Port au Prince, Haiti. Alison is a registered architect who has worked in both large corporate firms and partner in her own architectural practice.( Formerly: Mitchell/Giurgola and Thorpe, Australia; Pei Cobb, Freed and Partners, NYC. Currently: Paci + Mears Architects.)
 Jonsara Ruth, Director, MFA Interior Design and Assistant Professor of Interior Design, School of Constructed Environments at Parsons
Jonsara Ruth is a designer, artist and founding director of the progressive MFA Interior Design program at Parsons The New School for Design. Charged with provoking change in the field, she leads AFTERTASTE, an annual symposium drawing from expansive and speculative perspectives from a wide spectrum of disciplines to bring new definition to the field of interiors. In her teaching, she draws from practices at both their cutting edges and their ancestral roots to inform design approaches. Her ideas about designing interior environments focus on exploring and understanding human experience. As a designer she is committed to using materials and processes that maximize worker, end-user and planetary health. Currently Jonsara leads Salty Labs, a collaborative design studio founded in sustainable thinking and testing experimental methodologies. Recently, Jonsara helped initiate a mission-based, for-profit company as director of design at Q Collection + Q Collection Junior. There she enlisted American manufacturers to combine historical quality craftsmanship with materials and manufacturing processes that eliminate risks to human health and the environment. Previously she was the first lead designer for the Martha Stewart Signature Furniture Collection. In earlier years, she apprenticed with several influential artists and designers. Her work is seen in hundreds of retail venues, thousands of homes, exhibited in galleries and museums, featured in publications internationally, and has received multiple awards. Jonsara is a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, received a Masters of Architecture from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA in Industrial Design from Rhode Island School of Design.
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