At large universities, community members face daily challenges in education, research, and administration that don’t have easy solutions. Too often we are unintentional in how we approach problems, opting for individual intuition over inclusive and systematic approaches. Design Thinking is a people-centered approach that allows us to collaboratively explore problems, build a shared understanding, ask the right questions, generate innovative ideas, and iterate solutions to achieve our goals.
In this interactive session, you will discover how our team at Tufts University has adapted Design Thinking frameworks for our community. You’ll learn how to apply these methods to enhance your team’s problem-solving abilities and gain practical strategies for facilitating both large and small-group ideation.
Ryan Evans Bio
Ryan Evans (he/his) is Principal Service Designer in the Tufts University Technology Services (TTS) Design Practice. The TTS Design Practice works to unlock creativity at Tufts through codesign, facilitation, team development, visioning, and service design. Ryan’s work over the past six years has spanned challenging problems across the educational, research, and administrative enterprises of the school. He brings design thinking and service design approaches to tackle discovery, problem definition, visioning, ideation, and process optimization with stakeholders inside and outside the university and across a wide range of disciplines. He has helped organize and lead engagements for the Tufts Office of the Provost, many of Tufts’ schools and departments, several research centers and clinical teams, STOP Spillover (a USAID-funded project housed at Tufts), and Tufts’ university-wide NECHE Accreditation Committee. Prior to Tufts, Ryan worked for 20+ years as a design consultant with a focus on higher education and independent schools. Ryan holds an MS in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Lab and a BS in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT.
Colin Gerrity Bio
Colin Gerrity is a Design Strategist at Tufts University. As a member of the Tufts Technology Services Design Practice, Colin designed for and facilitated conversations among members of the Tufts community to collectively build shared understandings of strategic situations, envision desired futures and pathways, and propose interventions to advance goals. In this role, he supported strategic planning for multiple schools, business units, and research teams across the University. Colin currently supports Tufts as Project Manager of a university-wide strategic initiative to advance Institutional Inclusive Excellence. Prior to joining Tufts, Colin earned his MS in Experience Design from Northeastern University.