DFA Yale: A Year of Learning Thyself

Greetings from New Haven! It’s been a wild year here at DFA Yale: we’ve grown from five members to thirty, gotten five projects off the ground, and hosted a crazy-awesome weekend of DFA fun at the East Coast Meet-Up.

This fall, we were lucky enough to host fellow DFA rockstars from RISD/Brown, Cornell, Barnard/Columbia and Virginia Tech for the East Coast Meet-Up! Projects were shared, friendships were formed, and mockup-tionary was played for three straight days. It was an incredible experience to see this sprawling, abstract DFA network turn into a real, living community where we can share ideas and get to know each other. Every studio has a different take on the design process, and hearing it reinterpreted in the context of each school changed how many of us look at design.

Dell Social Innovation Challenge Champion Award

Giselle Malina, recently accepted the Dell Social Innovation Challenge Champion Award on behalf of DFA. According to the organization, the 2013 Leadership Activation Awards were given to “leaders who’ve gone above and beyond in activating and mentoring their students and participating in the DSIC community.”

Extreme by Design

We had the pleasure of interviewing Ralph King, the inspiring and talented filmmaker of Extreme by Design, a documentary film. Design for America has had the exclusive opportunity to pre-screen the film at its studios around the country. The film itself focuses on a team of college students from the Stanford design school and their experiences as they engage in the process of designing products that address huge issues for the world’s poor. Watch the trailer here!

Thea Klein-Mayer speaks at TEDxUChicago

Our very own Design for America fellow, Thea Klein-Mayer, was a featured speaker at TEDxUChicago 2013 on Saturday, May 11th. “TEDxUChicago is a local, independently organized event at the University of Chicago that strives to re-create the unique experience found at TED, where the world´s leaders, thinkers, and doers congregate to share what they are most passionate about… We aim to provide a platform where the smartest thinkers, greatest visionaries, and most fascinating teachers will be inspired and will have the opportunity to inspire others.”

Her talk there focused on social entrepreneurship and its impacts on the human experience.

DFA Receives Dell Social Innovation Award

  The Dell Social Innovation Challenge (DSIC) identifies and supports promising young social innovators who dedicate themselves to solving the world’s most pressing problems with their transformative ideas. We provide university students with world-class teaching and training, as well as with start-up capital and access to a network of mentors and advisors. This year, DFA is honored to receive their Champion Award for our active engagement with their network and encouraging teams to apply. Check all the DFA teams who applied here. We look forward to working with DSIC in the future!