In the Loop: Mariana Amatullo

Codifying Practices in an Emergent Space: Design for Social Innovation through the Designmatters Lens

Mariana Amatullo will discuss case studies from the Designmatters at Art Center College of Design portfolio and insights from the recent LEAP symposium about opportunities and challenges confronting designers pursuing new careers in design for social innovation.

About Mariana

Mariana Amatullo co-founded Designmatters at Art Center College of Design in 2001. As the head of the department, she is responsible for the strategic leadership of a dynamic portfolio of global and national educational projects, research collaborations and publications at the intersection of art and design education and social innovation. Through her leadership, Art Center is the first design institution to be affiliated as a non-governmental organization with the United Nations. Amatullo lectures internationally; she is an active essayist and serves on a variety of advisory and executive boards of organizations engaged in the arts, design education and social impact, including Cumulus (the International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media), ideo.org and the USC International Museum Institute. In 2012, Amatullo was the recipient of inaugural 2012 DELL Social Innovation Education award for outstanding leadership in teaching and supporting student social innovators and was named to Fast Company’s Co.Design 50 Designers Shaping the Future, and the Public Interest Design 100. She is a Non-Profit Fellow with the Doctor of Management, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. Her research focuses on the evolving role of design in organizational practice with a focus on social innovation. She holds an M.A. in Art History and Museum Studies from the University of Southern California and a Licence en Lettres Degree from the Sorbonne University, Paris. Amatullo is a native of Argentina and grew up internationally through the diplomatic corps.