Ann Donar RGD

Ann Donar (née Szeto) is a full-time professor in the joint program of Art and Art History between Sheridan College and the University of Toronto Mississauga. She holds a BA in Visual Arts from York University, Toronto, an MA and a PhD in Art Education focusing on design education from Concordia University, Montreal. She has taught a number of design courses in the former CCIT joint program at Sheridan | UTM: Design Thinking I & II, Designing Interactive Books, Design and Implementation of Multimedia Documents, History and Practice of Design and Popular Culture and Graphic Design. Currently, she is the discipline lead in Design in the Fine Art Studio of the Art and Art History Program. She has been a Registered Graphic Designer (RGD) since 2006. Prior to joining Sheridan, she was a full-time senior graphic designer and art director in the industry. Her academic and research focus has been on design thinking, particularly in developing an interdisciplinary undergraduate curricular model. More recently, her creative endeavours are related to a holistic model of design thinking amalgamating diverse realms of society and using design thinking as an allegory of progress in democracy and humanity. Her professional development evolved from being a visual artist, having served on the first Board of Directors at Lakeshore Village Artists' Co-op in Etobicoke. Academically, she is an inducted member of the Society of the J.W. McConnell Fellows. As a design educator, she has received an Honourable Mention of the RGD Design Educator Awards and currently serves as a Certification Portfolio Evaluator at RGD.