The School of Design is thrilled to welcome two new additions to our faculty for the Fall 2022 semester - Kelsey Elder and Kelsey Dusenka. Kelsey Elder is joining our faculty as a Assistant Professor in our Communication Design and Kelsey Dusenka is joining us an Adjunt of Practice.

Kelsey Elder

Kelsey Elder is an educator and typographer whose practice investigates letterforms as sites of significance, and whose research argues for these sites as culturally important epicenters for queerness, subversion, and dissent. Hailing from the true North (Detroit by way of Minneapolis), he grew up grazing cold knuckles while wrenching away in the garage on cars and motorcycles. He is an avid petrol head and owner of a small lifestyle company and custom car garage called Lowered Values.

He is currently an Assistant Professor of Communication Design at Carnegie Mellon University, and has taught prior at the Rhode Island School of Design, Purchase College of the State University of New York, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Cranbrook Summer Art Institute. His research has been presented and published through various venues including at Herb Lubalin Lecture Series 2022, TypeCon 2019, the Geffen Contemporary, The New School, Mercedes-Benz, Boston University, and the University of Texas. He loves collaborating with clients and community partners on freelance projects. He has most recently worked on creating custom OpenType features for Spatial Labs, a logotype for Coterie, an identity for Dinner With Strangers, and with CrossFit on developing numerous competition identities and experiences for their gym affiliates owners and members.

Kelsey received his BFA in Graphic Design from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, his MFA in 2d-Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art, and is a graduate of the Typeface Design Intensive at the University of Reading.

Kelsey Dusenka

Kelsey Dusenka is a designer and educator who’s practice rotates between freelance graphic design, studio work, and teaching. In her freelance practice, Dusenka works with small businesses and cultural clients to produce graphic identities, publications, print ephemera, and web-based projects. She also is the designer for ultraterrestrial.xyz (Pittsburgh, PA & Richmond, VA), which publishes small edition handmade photography books by feminist voices.

Dusenka has designed several published books; her work has been publicly collected by the Center for Book Arts in New York, and the Special Collections Library at Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and has studio work published in Let’s Make Letters! by Kelcey Gray. From 2016–19, she was the Studio Manager for Flatten Image (Richmond, VA), the only woman-owned and operated fine art printing studio specializing in fine art printing, custom color profiling, photographic imaging, retouching, restoration, fine art reproductions, and 19th century photographic print processes.

Dusenka has previously taught within the design programs at Rhode Island School of Design, Roger Williams University, and Virginia Commonwealth University; and has served as guest critic at Otis College of Art and Design Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Dusenka earned an MFA in 2D Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA in Graphic Design from Minneapolis College of Art.