Archana Shekara is a designer, researcher, creative director, and educator. She is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design, Co-Director of Ethnic Studies Program, and Creative Director of Design Streak Studio, a research based social innovation lab focusing on human centered service design at Illinois State University. She serves as the Coordinator of the Graphic Design 2+1 program partnership with Wonsook Kim School of Art at Illinois State University and Tianhua School of Art + Design at Shanghai Normal University. Shekara has twenty-five years of professional experience designing for diverse industry clients. She uses design as a tool to build cross-cultural understanding, humility, acceptance, and respect. As a cultural researcher, she has been investigating transnational identity by understanding racism through a brown lens and sharing awareness through ethnographic narratives. Her research interests include design pedagogy related to cultural identity and awareness, multiculturalism, racial equity, community engagement and social justice. Shekara’s innovative teaching methodologies have been featured in peer reviewed national and international academic and professional publications, and conferences including Association Typographique Internationale (AtypI), Typography Day, Digitally Engaged Learning (DEL), College Art Association (CAA), AIGA Design Educators Conference, and UCDA Design Educators Summit. She has reviewed several graphic design tenure and promotion dossiers from various universities, and conducts community building workshops based on diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has served as a graduate thesis advisor for Heron School of Art and Design at Indianapolis. Shekara received an MFA in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a BFA in Painting from the State University of New York in New Paltz. 

Website: theHERproject.art
Instagram: archana_shekara