Michael Schmidt
Associate Dean of Research and Community Engagement
Director, Institute for Arts and Health
Professor, Graphic Design
312 Manning Hall
901.568.8273
mschmidt@memphis.edu
Biography
Dr. Michael Schmidt, Associate Professor of Graphic Design, earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Ohio University, Master of Graphic Design at North Carolina State University, and Doctor of Philosophy in social and behavioral sciences at the University of Memphis. Michael was named a University of Memphis “PI Millionaire” while director of the UofM’s Center for Multimedia Arts for the center’s externally funded print, exhibit, interactive, and video projects. Most of the Center’s work promoted child, family, and community health needs, which led to Michael’s Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Engaged Scholarship. Michael’s independent design work was published in Graphic Design: USA, Print Magazine, Emigre, and Designer. He received the University and College Designers Association Gold Award and Silver Award, as well as several other design competition awards for excellence. His writings on design were published in four Allworth Press anthologies and Emigre Magazine. He delivered design presentations at major conferences, including CAA, IASDR, and UCDA. Michael’s interest in design for children’s health and rights included work with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Duke Children’s Hospital, The Urban Child Institute, Shelby County Government, UNICEF Canada, and The University of Memphis School of Public Health. Michael’s health and child rights-related work was presented to a joint committee of the Tennessee State House and Senate, the U.S. House and Senate (via child advocacy group First Focus), and the international child rights community (via UNICEF Canada). He was interviewed by the Boston Globe, wrote an invited article for Communities and Banking (the magazine of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston), and donated his child rights advocacy knowledge to the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and the Child Rights Impact Assessment Community of Practice (a collaboration with colleagues from UNICEF Canada and the University of Aukland, NZ).
Education
MICHAEL R. SCHMIDT (1995), Associate Professor: B.F.A., 1992, Ohio University; M.G.D., 1994, North Carolina State University; Ph.D., 2019, University of Memphis