Dean Anijo Mathew will depart the Institute of Design at Illinois Tech on July 31, 2026.
Mathew joined ID in 2008 as an assistant professor and was appointed dean in 2022. Over nearly two decades, he has been a faculty member, academic leader, and advocate for design at Illinois Tech—and one of the most recognizable faces of ID’s work in the world.
Anijo has accepted the role of Dean of the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy.
Jennifer deWinter will serve as interim director, effective August 1.
A Tenure Built on New Foundations
Mathew became dean with the conviction, as he later described it, “that this remarkable institution could become something genuinely new again.” What followed was four and a half years of sustained reinvention.
Under his leadership, ID reimagined its structure around three strategic pillars—the Graduate School, the Action Labs, and the Executive Academy. ID launched the Master of Science in Strategic Design Leadership for mid-career professionals, grew its PhD cohort to the largest in the school’s history, and designed a new curriculum for corporate PhD partnerships. Student and faculty work earned repeated recognition, including from Fast Company, Core77, and Red Dot, often competing directly against professional firms and global companies.
Research funding in the Action Labs tripled. New partnerships formed with the U.S. Department of Education, the Walton Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, Builders Initiative, and the University of Chicago, among others. openID now brings design to the broader Illinois Tech ecosystem, clinicID is a living laboratory for applied practice, and events like LevelUp and Shapeshift have brought technology, healthcare, and nonprofit leaders from around the world to campus to discuss the future of human-centered innovation. ID’s new brand, which launched under Anijo’s tenure, has helped grow ID’s audiences substantially.
Leading the USC Iovine and Young Academy
Mathew joins the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy. Founded through a 2013 gift from music industry veterans and Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young, the academy focuses on innovation across industries through the integration of technology, design, and business.
USC President Beong-Soo Kim called Mathew “a visionary researcher, entrepreneur and educational leader whose work is informed by the humanity at the heart of technology.”
Read the full announcement from USC: Anijo Mathew named dean of USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy →
Jennifer deWinter Named Interim Director
Jennifer deWinter, Dean of the Lewis College of Science and Letters and Professor of Rhetoric at Illinois Tech, will serve as interim director, effective August 1, 2026. deWinter’s research spans media development, virtual and augmented reality, game design, and the simulation of complex systems—work that has taken her from founding the Intentional Design Studio in Massachusetts to immersive media partnerships with universities and companies in Japan and China.
She brings to ID a deep familiarity with Illinois Tech’s interdisciplinary ambitions and a broad understanding of design at the intersection of technology, culture, and systems.