Craig Vogel, director of the Center of Design, Research and Innovation at the University of Cincinnati, is the “teacher’s teacher” in the eyes of employers across the nation. While giving top marks to UC’s design programs, these employers also singled out Craig on a short list of America’s best design professors – all in recognition of his teaching, writing and international consulting regarding how to make perfect products.

Craig Vogel is the associate dean for graduate programs research, President and Chair of the Live Well Collaborative and co-author of the 2nd edition of Creating Breakthrough Products

If, 25 years from now, Craig’s students are looking back and ranking his teaching style and ability, what does he hope they remember? “That I helped them be more comfortable with being uncomfortable, more comfortable with asking hard questions, that I helped them become more of who they already were,” says Craig, adding, “That I helped them see all that they can do.”

Craig also hopes he prompts such “seeing” beyond the classroom doors too. He’s literally sought out around the world to guide both start-up firms and corporations through the process of product innovation. His two books – he’s co-authored The Design of Things to Come: How Ordinary People Create Extraordinary Products (Wharton School Publishing) and Creating Breakthrough Products: Innovation from Product Planning to Program Approval (Prentice Hall) – are the textbooks of business innovation and of business/design school collaborations.

Connect with Craig on LinkedIn or read more about his work with the Live Well Collaborative.