Our Team

The SCD Team

Our full time staff at Siebel Center for Design come from many different backgrounds like education, industrial design, business, theater, communications, art, and graphic design. Together we form a unique team with diverse perspectives who collaborate to create engaging programs and events throughout the building.

Rachel Switzky

Director

Nicholas Puddicombe

Senior Associate Director of Operations & Experience

Saad Shehab

Associate Director of Assessment & Research

Emily Bear

Assistant Director of Marketing & Programming

Neil Pearse
Assistant Director of Lab & Equipment Operations

Amber Dewey Schultz

Assistant Director of Academic Programs

Kieryn Alexander

Office Support Specialist

Mason Rousey

Experience & Design Specialist

Dawn Bohn

Faculty and Academic Engagement Director

Hayley Bender

Media & AV Specialist

The SCD Fellows

SCD Fellows are a diverse, multidisciplinary group of creative and passionate thinkers, makers, and doers. Fellows play a critical role in advancing the Siebel Center for Design mission by diving deep into human-centered design, design thinking, and design strategy. These are Academic Professional or Post-Doctoral appointments, focused on specific projects and grant-supported work.

Miriam Salah

SCD Fellow, Design Content & Instruction

Carrie James

SCD Fellow, Curriculum & Instruction

Taylor Parks

SCD Fellow, Engineering Education

Sidney Sprunger

SCD Fellow, Academic Programs

Brian Guerrero

SCD Fellow, K-12 Programs

Sid Patil

SCD Fellow, Illinois Design Consulting

Adjunct Faculty

SCD's Adjunct Instructors and Lecturers support our DTX courses and academic programs, and are given the opportunity to collaborate with SCD teams, utilize resources within the Center, and learn more about human-centered design and design thinking in order to apply it to their fields of study and professional practice. 

Scott Barrows - Introduction to Health Innovation | Email Scott

Brandon Dohman - Introduction to Design Thinking | Email Brandon
Ch'Nel Duke -
Student-Centered App Design | Email Ch'Nel
Rachel Heaton -
Design Thinking in Psychology | Email Rachel
Carrie James - Design for Social Impact, DT & Responsive Teaching, DT & Teaching Concepts | Email Carrie
Beth Ladd - Innovation Studio | Email Beth
Eui Yang  
| Email Eui

Jake Fava - Student-Centered App Design | Email Jake

Stephanie McCloud - Introduction to Immersive Experiences | Email Stephanie

Brandon Middleton - Introduction to Social Design | Email Brandon

Stephen Riley - Design Think & Health Innovation | Email Stephen
Collin Smith - Design Thinking & Immersive Experiences

Steven White | Email Steven

Student Teams

Student roles support our labs, studios, guest experience, event services, workshops, assessment and research, while also gaining experience in human-centered design through multidisciplinary projects. 

Our Benefactor

Thomas M. Siebel
Alumnus, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
BA, History; MS, Computer Science; MBA

Thank you to our benefactor, Thomas Siebel, and his foundation, The Thomas and Stacy Siebel Foundation. Our building was made possible by a very generous donation from the foundation. Thomas Siebel is Chairman, CEO, and Founder of C3 AI. He has served as the chairman of the board of directors since January 2009 and as chief executive officer since July 2011. Prior to founding the company, Siebel founded and served as the chief executive officer of Siebel Systems, a global CRM software company, from 1993 until it merged with Oracle Corporation in January 2006. Siebel serves as a member of the boards of advisors for the colleges of engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of California, Berkeley. He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in April 2013.