A list of what I have done with my (Professional)life
Gretchen Von Koenig
Historian • Researcher • Educator
Jersey City, NJ |gvonkoenig@gmail.com
Education
2018 M.A. History of Design & Curatorial Studies
Parsons School of Design, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
Thesis: Undergraduate Industrial and Product Design Pedagogy and the History Curriculum: How We Teach History to Practitioners in Training
2015 B.S. Industrial Design
B.A. Technical Theater & Set Design
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Professor of Record
Parsons School of Design, The New School | New York, NY
Form, Function, & Meaning of Constructed Spaces from 15th to 20th Centuries, PGID 5015 | Fall 2019
Constructed Environments: Advanced Research Seminar, PLSD 3500 | Fall 2018, 2019
Art + Design Practice: Advanced Research Seminar, PLHT 3500 | Spring 2019
Hillier College of Architecture & Design, New Jersey Institute of Technology | Newark, NJ
History of Furniture - INT 310 | Fall 2017, 2018, 2019
History of Industrial Design, ID 3310 | Spring 2018, 2020
Ethnographic & Market Research for Design Process - ID 310 | Fall 2016, 2017, 2018, Spring 2019
Communication in Art & Design: Digital Media - AD 112 | Spring 2017
Michael Graves School of Architecture & Design, Kean University | Union, NJ
History of Industrial Design, AD 490 | Spring 2018
Professional Experience
2019- Curator & Grant Specialist, Office of Cultural Affairs. Jersey City, NJ for Apple Tree House
Action Grant, New Jersey Council of the Humanities
Cooperative Marketing Grant, NJ Tourism Grant
2019- Assistant Director, Art Fair 14c, Jersey City, NJ.
2019 - 17 Academic Advisor for BFA Product Design, Parsons School of Design
2017- 16 Contributor on Design Education, Metropolis Magazine
Selected Writings:
Peter Zellner’s New Architecture School: No Tuition & a Radical Curriculum
How to Get More Minority Students in Architecture? Look to 1968
At Cooper Hewitt, Socially Responsible Design Takes Center Stage
“Baltimore Is a Blank Slate,” and That Makes It Ripe for a New Design Program
RIT Spearheads Program to Attract Deaf Students to Technical Design
RISD Students Disrupt the Gendered Nature of Wearable Tech
Diversity Champions: 8 Schools That Aren’t Just Paying Lip Service To Diversity
Get Licensed While in Architecture School? Deans Weigh in
College for Creative Studies’ New MFA Pairs Design with Industry Savvy
The 7 Best Sustainable Design Courses in America
The New School’s New Hire Asserts Design’s Role in the Refugee Crisis
SCI-Arc Launches Scholarship for L.A. Public School Students
Diane Lewis, Architect and Cooper Union Professor, Dies
Book Review, David Brody’s Housekeeping by Design (Print only)
2017-16 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Parsons School of Design
History of Modern Design, 1850-2000
Intro to Design Studies
Intro to Visual Culture
Post-Election America
2017-16 Contributor on Design, TL Magazine
2016-15 Educational Fellow, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, NY.
2015 Curatorial Intern, Brooklyn Museum, Department of Decorative Arts, Brooklyn, NY.
2015-12 Archivist, Jim Wise Theater Archive, Newark NJ
2012-13 Digital Archivist, Society of Architectural Historians, New York NY
Academic Presentations:
2020 College Art Association, Co-Chair Beyond the Bauhaus: Histories of American Design
Education with Colin Fanning, Chicago, Feb 12-15.
2019 Design History Society “American Industry & Design Schools: Tracing Influence from
Enterprise to Education” School of Art, Design and Social Sciences Northumbria University Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. Sep 8-10.
College Art Association, Co-Chair Teaching Design Studies: Practice, Methods, & Resources,
with Carla Cesare, New York, Feb 14.
National Conference on the Beginning Design Student “History As Context: Case Study on Activating History Classroom” University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 12-14.
2018 Chicago Design: Histories and Narratives, Questions and Methods “Chicago and the Precedent
Of Design Education: Pedagogy, Curricula, and Capitalist Influences” School of the Art
Institute of Chicago, November 8-10.
National Conference on the Beginning Design Student “Iciting Criticality in Design Education: How We Teach History to Product Design Students” University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 1-3.
2017 Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association, “Bauhaus: A Capitalist Fetish Beyond Socialist
Intentions & Historical Representations”, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 2017
Parsons Graduate Symposium, “Business Practices of the Bauhaus & The Bard Textbook”, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY May 4-6
2016 Parsons Graduate Symposium Spring 2016 “Bruce Rogers & Modernism: How Euclid Changed
His Aesthetic”, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY May3-4
Academic Publications:
2018 “Iciting Criticality in Design Education: How We Teach History to Product Design Students”
University of Cincinnati, vol. 34 no. 1 (2018): The 34th National Conference on the Begining Design Student. Published Sep. 2018.
Honors & Awards:
2018 Research Development Stipend, Office of Student Success, Parsons School of Design
2018-15 Parsons Dean Scholarship
2017 National Art Dealers’ Association Funding Recipient - Smithsonian Scholarship
2016 National Art Dealers’ Association Funding Recipient - Smithsonian Scholarship
2016-15 Smithsonian Institute Fellow
2015 School of Art & Design Medal, College of Architecture and Design, NJIT
Professional Committee & Leadership
2020 College Art Association Council of Readers. A group of 66 selected scholars to review and
evaluate over 800 submissions for sessions yielding 226 sessions for the annual conference.
2019-18 Jersey City Arts Council, Architecture & Design Committee
Exhibition: Urban Crossroads, Hudson County Community College
2018-17 Co-Chair - Assessment Committee for Institutional Effectiveness
Faculty Advisor, IDSA Student Chapter, Parsons School of Design
Faculty Advisor, Alpha Rho Chi, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Committee Member - Assessment Committee for Academic Advising Surveys
Committee Member - Careers Committee for Academic Advising
2017 ADHT Graduate Symposium Organizer
Design Practice, Press & Awards
2016 Seed Packet Design selected for GROWTH Exhibition, NYCxDesign, Astor Place
Sponsored by AmDC, The Sill & NYC Department of Design & Construction.
Seed Packets, collaboration with artist Allison Underwood.
2016-14 Studio Manager, Kiel Mead Designs, Brooklyn NY
Sales Representative, American Design Club, Brooklyn NY
Helped organize public shows for NYCxDesign events, public shows in Astor Place, Times Square and in various Design shows such as Wanted Design, ArchDigest Show & NYNow.
2015-12 Graphic Designer, Jim Wise Theater, Newark NJ
2014 Rubber Ottoman, featured in DesignMilks Best in Show for ICFF 2014
2013 Design Intern, WorkHorse Design, Set design for Radiolab live show Apocalyptical
Design Intern, POD Design, Principle Brooks Atwood
2012 Graphic Designer, Newark Downtown District, Special Improvement District
Research Positions:
2017 Research Assistant to Caroline Dionne, Towards a Theory of Participatory Design Methods
2016 Researcher for Education Department, Cooper Hewitt for development of new Docent
Training on Question Based Learning
2014-13 Digital Researcher for SAH Archpedia, University of Pennsylvania. Under supervision of G.
Esperdy
Professional Development / Attended Conferences
2018 Assessment Institute, National Association of Academic Advising, Daytona Beach, FL
2016 Mid Atlantic Popular Culture Association Conference, Atlantic City, NJ
Professional Membership:
College Art Association of America
Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design
Design Research Society
Industrial Designers Society of America
Design History Society