The Polymath
Lab.
Artist. Educator. Instructional designer. In a world of hyper-specialization, I choose a different path — the path of the Creative Polymath. Wide-ranging curiosity isn't a distraction. It's a strategic advantage.
Why Interdisciplinary Thinking Wins
In a world of hyper-specialization, I choose a different path: the path of the Creative Polymath. To me, being a polymath isn't just about having a wide range of interests — it is a strategic advantage in the field of Education Technology.
My background in Film, Video, and New Media from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is the engine that drives my instructional design. Every course I build, every lesson I teach, every LMS I configure draws on a practice that spans cinema, painting, digital illustration, motion graphics, and code.
When I design a course, I am directing an experience. I think about rhythm and pacing the way a filmmaker does. I think about visual hierarchy the way an art director does. I think about systems and efficiency the way a developer does. None of those modes of thinking are separate — they inform each other constantly.
That's the Polymath Lab: a place where everything I make and everything I teach comes from the same restless, interdisciplinary curiosity.
"Being a polymath isn't about knowing everything. It's about making unexpected connections that specialists miss."
When I design a course,
I am directing an experience.
Three ways my creative background makes me a better educator — and a better designer.
Cinematic Engagement
I use tools like Camtasia and Articulate Studio not just for production, but to create rhythm and visual hierarchies that sustain learner attention. Good instructional video is good filmmaking: pacing, contrast, tension, release.
Visual Clarity
My experience as an Art Director means I know how to translate complex data into infographics and animations that make the "un-learnable" intuitive. Design isn't decoration — it's comprehension.
Technical Agility
Moving between Python coding for LMS efficiency and digital media for interface design ensures that learning systems are as robust as they are engaging. The code and the canvas talk to each other.
Always making. Always teaching.
Adjunct & Assistant Professor
15+ years teaching web design, digital media, motion graphics, and visual communication at four Chicago-area institutions. Developed curriculum, served as SME, taught classes of 25–40 students in-person and online.
Department Chair — Digital Art & Communications
Led curriculum innovation, faculty development, and WASC accreditation for Digital Art, Animation, Graphic Design, and Interactive Media programs. Built the college's first online learning infrastructure from scratch.
Director of Education
Led academic operations, faculty training, and digital learning transition across five programs. Delivered instructional design workshops and drove the shift to hybrid and online delivery.
Manager, Education Programs
Leading design and delivery of scalable online learning programs for food science professionals globally. AI-integrated instructional design, vendor management, e-learning production, and LMS architecture.
Where it started.
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Master of Fine ArtsFilm, Video & New Media. The foundation of everything — visual thinking, cinematic structure, new media theory.
Cleveland State University
B.A. — CommunicationMass media communications. Where I learned to think about audiences, messages, and meaning at scale.
Cuyahoga Community College
Communication & Media StudiesThe starting point. Where curiosity about media, design, and storytelling first took hold.
Ready to bring a polymath into your program?
I'm actively seeking adjunct and faculty roles in digital design, media arts, and instructional technology — online or in the Chicago area.