About Our Faculty

Our faculty of internationally renowned educators – accomplished professionals across a range of design, technology and business fields – help our students develop their abilities through projects and critical dialogue in a design studio environment.

Andy Ogden – Department Chair

Formerly vice president of design for Walt Disney Imagineering R&D and an influential car designer for Honda Research of America, Andy has been on the Art Center faculty since 1984 and has helped train designers who hold leadership positions around the world. He has a strong record of innovation, award-winning design excellence and management with more than 20 years of professional R&D experience and market success in consumer products, transportation, entertainment, interactive media and education. He is the principle inventor for seven U.S. invention patents for immersive displays, human interface systems, robotics and motion simulators. Andy has a B.S. in industrial design, with distinction, from Art Center College of Design (1983); studied executive management at UCLA Andersen School of Management; and studied architecture at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Katherine Bennett

An Art Center faculty member since 1988, Katherine has a passion for research, strategic planning, information architecture, design development and design/technology history. Her specialty is understanding and analyzing the user experience to discover design opportunities. An active member of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), she has served as the organization’s vice president of education; member of the board of directors; western district education representative; and IDSA/LA chapter chair. Katherine has worked with Henry Dreyfuss Associates, Hauser Associates and the Mega/Erg think tank, where she developed designs ranging from laboratory and business equipment to tableware, gas stations, office and residential furniture and consumer products for clients including Herman Miller, Avery Dennison and Johnson Controls. Katherine is currently concluding her work towards an M.A. in design research at Art Center, holds a B.S.I.D from the University of the Arts, and holds a Certificate in Painting from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Katherine’s blogs:  http://www.designinvestigations.com/

Krystina Castella

Krystina is known for her success in product development, teaching, consulting and writing about innovation and entrepreneurship. Her consulting practice collaborates with individuals and companies to package innovation, form strategic alliances, secure investors, license products and transform ideas into successful ventures. Krystina is a former owner and operator of a highly successful product development and licensing business, where she oversaw design, sales, manufacturing and distribution for internationally distributed product lines including furniture, toys, housewares and soft goods. Krystina’s design work spans the fields of environmental design, production design, graphic design, product design and publishing. Her research investigates new materials and manufacturing processes and the relationship between the psychology of creativity and the cultural effects of consumerism. An educator at Art Center for 18 years, she previously worked with Walt Disney Imagineering, RTKL Associates and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. She has a B.F.A. in industrial design from RISD.

www.krystinacastella.com

Maritza Herrera

Maritza Herrera, department coordinator, got her start in the entertainment industry, working for 15 years as a dancer and actor performing in various commercials, videos and theater productions. From 2004 to 2007, she worked as an assistant casting director for Renita Casting. She has also served as executive assistant to Nely Galán, CEO of gaLAn Entertainment. Since coming to Art Center in 2007, Herrera has taken on a number of roles, including serving as department coordinator for the Industrial Design and Entertainment Design graduate programs. She also serves as the College’s speaker liaison for its annual Sustainability Summit. Herrera received her Bachelor of Arts from California State University, Long Beach, where she majored in psychology and dance.

Richard Keyes

Richard is dedicated to excellence in design education and advancing the understanding of essential principles of design, perception, narrative and cultural assumptions. An exemplary instructor in Art Center’s renowned foundation programs, he has taught color, form and meaning in visual images since 1990. As a professional designer and color consultant, Richard has worked with clients including The Walt Disney Company, Warner Brothers Records, Guess Jeans, Empire Berol, BIC, Avery Dennison, the Los Angeles Housing Project and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He currently teaches workshops at The Walt Disney Company in typography and color. Richard has a B.F.A. in graphic and packaging design from Art Center.

Steve Montgomery

Steve has been teaching at Art Center since 1993, directing comprehensive design studios and thesis projects. He founded and runs bioDesign, a 10-year-old award-winning consultancy. An industrial design graduate of Michigan State University, Steve has been an innovator and inventor for the biotech and healthcare industries for more than 25 years.

Story Musgrave

Adjunct Professor and advisor to GradID, Story is an accomplished pilot, surgeon, mechanic, poet, designer and philosopher. He has written 25 scientific papers in the areas of aerospace medicine and physiology, temperature regulation, exercise physiology and clinical surgery. One of NASA’s most experienced astronauts, Story flew on six space flights; performed the first shuttle spacewalk on Challenger’s maiden flight; conducted two classified Department of Defense missions; spacewalked to repair the ailing Hubble telescope; and, on his last flight, operated an electronic chip-manufacturing satellite aboard Columbia. Story participated in the design and development of all space shuttle extravehicular activity equipment for his missions, including spacesuits, life-support systems, airlocks and manned maneuvering units. Throughout his 30-year career with NASA, Story enriched his experiences by capturing the essence of spaceflight through a variety of mediums including photography, poetry and personal experiments. Story has seven graduate degrees in math, computers, chemistry, medicine, physiology, literature and psychology, and he has been awarded 20 honorary doctorates.

Story’s website: http://www.spacestory.com

Lloyd Walker

Lloyd is the principal of innovation services firm Precurve, LLC and an entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in early-stage technology startups and 25 years of strategic planning and product development experience. Throughout his career, Lloyd has provided creative foresight, innovation management and business leadership for emerging markets and technologies. He serves as a senior executive, advisor and shareholder for technology businesses in Texas and California. As former president of Human Code, an interactive developer sold to Sapient in 2000, he grew the firm into a leading national developer of electronic games, e-learning and online solutions. Prior to Human Code, he performed strategy and product design for NASA, as well as Honda and several other Fortune 500 companies. Lloyd has an M.S. in studies of the future from the University of Houston, and a B.S. in industrial design from Art Center.

Geoff Wardle

Geoff has spent nearly 30 years as a professional designer and design educator. He has held corporate and consultancy positions with numerous automotive companies in developed and developing economies across four continents. His involvement in full-time design education began 12 years ago at the former Art Center Europe campus in Switzerland, where he was chair of the Transportation Design Department. He is currently a faculty member and the director of advanced mobility research at Art Center. Geoff is an active proponent of teaching transportation design students that they can become leaders by helping automotive manufacturers rethink their business models and product offerings. He holds a bachelor’s degree in vehicle and mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in automotive design from the Royal College of Art, London.