Our User Experience Faculty

Our talented User Experience faculty is made up of faculty whose research helps guide the field and develops insights into best practices and user behaviors plus knowledgable professionals whose skills and expertise guide students in how companies, organizations and institutions are applying and developing new online and interactive experiences across a wide range of platforms and settings.

  • Jessica Becker is a graduate and an adjunct faculty member for the UX master’s program in the iSchool, emphasizing the importance of accessibility to her students. “Accessibility is easy to work into interaction design because students are creating visual prototypes,” Becker said.

  • Felesia McDonald, '14 is an adjunct instructor in the iSchool, teaching courses in User Experience (UX). McDonald is also the Sr Manager UX Design at Optum, a branch of UnitedHealth Group. The UX master's degree program at Kent State University helped McDonald refine skills such as client and stakeholder interaction and presenting.

  • Rebecca Meehan, Ph.D., came to the iSchool in 2012, bringing an extensive background in research related to health care and health informatics, particularly focused on information technology and user experience. Her interests center on improving patient safety outcomes by improving the user experience of health information technology, and sociotechnical approaches to improving health outcomes for a diverse cultural population.

  • As a software developer, Sean Petiya '14 was first introduced to the UX field while finding clients’ goals and requirements for web applications. “I saw the benefit of taking a user-centric approach to this process,” he said. To extend his graphic design background and his work as a developer, Petiya enrolled in the Master of Library Science and UX program in the iSchool.

  • Kelsey Pytlik '11 serves as an adjunct professor for the Kent State University School of Information, teaching courses in UX, UX principles and concepts, principles of interaction and more. She was inspired to return to the iSchool to teach after attending a UX conference and running into a familiar face. “I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I ran into one of my professors and they invited me to become an adjunct professor and here I am.”

  • Andrew Shipka works for Kent State Online at Kent State University, leading a team of instructional designers creating user-friendly experiences for undergraduate and graduate programs. “Having a job in UX gives you the chance to advocate for your users," he said.

  • Catherine L. Smith, Ph.D., joined the iSchool faculty in 2010. Her research bridges information retrieval and human-computer interaction, centering on the psychology of information seeking and query formulation in skilled information searching using computer systems. This includes the processes involved in learning to search and the design of interactive retrieval systems that enrich self-regulated learning for their users. 

  • As an adjunct instructor for UX, Andy Vitale is giving back to the design industry by lending a hand to the next generation of designers. Teaching courses such as Introduction to UX Design Principles & Concepts, UX Design in Practice, UX Design Leadership and Portfolio Design & Assessment, Vitale is giving students the reinforcement needed to keep them on track.

  • As one of the newest faculty members in the iSchool, Professor Dong Whi Yoo is encouraging students to see the potential of interdisciplinary research. He has researched the interaction between artificial intelligence and mental health, as well as human-computer interaction.