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Eric Anderson

Interim Head & Professor, School of Design
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Eric Anderson is a professor in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University where for over 25 years he has taught design thinking and strategy, user centered design methods, and experience design within the context of product design and product visualization studios at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He was one of the co-founder's of the Integrated Innovation Institute and an instructor and co-director of its Master of Integrated Innovation for Products and Services program that brought together design, engineering, and business students to learn product and service innovation. He has now returned to his teaching and research in the School of Design and focus on his role as a Senior Associate Dean for the College of Fine Arts. 

Prior to teaching at Carnegie Mellon, Prof. Anderson spent over a decade as a full time design practitioner for corporate departments and consulting firms based in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania (Philadelphia area), where he designed a broad variety of product solutions in medical instrumentation, tradeshow exhibition, corporate identity and consumer product spaces. Professor Anderson is a Past President of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), a member of the prestigious IDSA Academy of Fellows, and a past member of the Board of Trustees for The Design Foundation. He holds a BS in Industrial Design from the University of the Arts (formerly the Philadelphia College of Art), and a MA and MFA in Design Education from The Ohio State University. 

In 2018, the Ohio State University, Department of Design, celebrated its 50th anniversary as a separate unit. Prof. Anderson was selected as one of fifteen “Distinguished Alumnus” to be honored by the department. As stated in the department’s announcement, “there is a lengthy and impressive list of graduates who span the years from 1968 to now, so being identified as one of the fifteen most worthy of celebration at this momentous time is quite an honor! Nominations came from our current faculty, the emeritus faculty, our professional advisory board, and our alumni.”

Recent Writings on D&I 

Celebrating Pioneering Black Industrial Designers 

Ok, You Say You Are Listening - Now What? 

The Need for Belonging in Innovation