The Coffee Date Effect; match-making students and professors to launch a DFA Studio
We were sitting at a coffee shop in downtown Portland excitedly talking about Design for America; what it is, who it’s for, why it exists.
Danya Rose-Merkele, MBA student at Portland State University, was soaking up everything I had to say… which was a lot. I’ve been involved with Design for America (DFA) since 2012.
“I just wish I had learned about design for social impact sooner”, Danya exclaimed. Oh, sister, I know the feeling.
It took me five years of stumbling through my own career after college to discover design as a method of problem solving. I uprooted my life in the Bay Area for Cleveland, Ohio (who does that?) to pursue an MBA with a year-long focus in Design Strategy. I discovered Design for America my first year in B-school. DFA is a nationwide network of student-led design studios using human-centered design to create local, social impact. Without question, launching a DFA studio on campus is one of the best things I have ever done. I got hands-on experience with design projects. I got to apply design principles to building a sustainable organization. Shout to DFA CWRU+CIA, 62 members strong!
I was blown away by the energy, intelligence, optimism, and commitment to social impact among the DFA students across the network that I had the pleasure of working with. Most DFA studios skew towards undergraduates rather than grads, which meant that there was sometimes a 10-year age gap between us. These kids were bright, sharp, fun, and intensely aware of the tremendous challenges the world is facing. It was both inspiring and humbling.
After graduation, I landed in Portland, Oregon with a job at XPLANE. I was still itching to be involved in social impact design projects and to stay connected with the DFA community and its uplifting energy. Turns out I wasn’t the only DFA Alum who felt that way. Together with Hannah Chung, Giselle Malina, and Guy Kopsombut, we launched the DFA Collaborative as an open organization for alums and non-alums to continue learning from one another. It grew into a thriving community of advice and idea exchange between alums, students and mentors through annual meetups and events. Learn more here.
In late 2015, XPLANE was selected as the design partner for large initiative to redesign the student experience at Portland State. Led by the office of Academic Innovation, there was clearly a hunger among the staff to learn to about the design process and how to apply it their day-to-day. I had no shame in mentioning Design for America every chance I got.
I was talking to staff and administrators who were eager, but we needed students!
I started getting referred to this professor or that professor who might know students who were interested in starting a DFA studio. I kept up a steady stream of coffee networking dates for two years.
Including:
- Innumerable coffees and conversations with Hans van der Schaaf and Sukhwant Jhaj, Office of Academic Innovation
- 2 coffee dates with Shimon Shmuelie, professor Dept of Engineering
- Quarterly coffee dates with Albrecht Enders, Adjunct Professor, School of Business
- 1 coffee date with Jacen Green, Social Enterprise Initiatives, Impact Entrepreneurs, School of Business
- 2 coffees as a guest speaker in Jeanne Enders MBA courses
Each coffee date led me to other contacts and some students with potential interest. It wasn’t until I was speaking to students directly during a lecture I presented in Jeanne Enders’ MBA course on Organizational Management that I knew I had found a student who might truly launch a DFA studio. This is what I had been hoping for all along.
Two weeks after speaking in her class, Danya and I were sitting over coffee talking about starting a DFA studio.
Four days after that, I met up with Danya and two of her classmates who were ready to dive in to the logistics of the application process. Yes, more coffee was consumed.
One month after speaking to the MBA class, the three PSU students and I got on a video chat with Michelle Baverman, DFA Fellow who leads new studio onboarding.
PSU faculty and staff have lined up with financial resources and sponsorship of the studio.
The culmination of the coffee dates was April 29, 2017 when DFA PSU held their first meeting. It’s a milestone and a beginning. Shall we celebrate with more craft coffee??
I’m so proud the dedication and commitment of the PSU student leaders. I’m looking forward to being their coach and mentor as they take on social impact problems around Portland.
Watch out Leadership Studio 2017 — PSU will be there!
DFA Alumni out there, if you want to stay involved in projects, it is possible to start a DFA studio at your local university and inspire college students who wish they had known about design earlier. Chances are, they are hungry for it, and coffee dates just might get you there.
