Pre-iPhone, pre-Twitter, pre-Instagram, pre-Slack. Pre-rideshare, pre-blockchain, pre-crypto, pre-Zoom. Pre-Hurricane Sandy, Pre-Women’s Marches, Pre-Covid, Pre-X. It was before any of these behavior-changing products, services, and transformative moments the MFA Interaction Design Program at SVA was launched into the world. And yet, from the start, it was designed for the future — preparing students not just for what was next, but for what they could imagine into being.
Since June 2008, I’ve had the immense privilege of serving as its Founding Chair. The program, co-founded with Steven Heller, helps shape the evolving relationship between people and technology. Over these years, human’s relationship with technology has transformed dramatically — interfaces have become infused with intelligence, and intelligence has increasingly dissolved into our behaviors and environments, giving rise to new disciplines and designers’ vital role in responsible AI, ethics, and centering humanity in technology. And with it, the program has evolved.
I’m delighted to share that Adriana Valdez Young has taken on the role of Chair of the MFA Interaction Design to bring the program into its next chapter. She invests a rare and critical blend of creative foresight, thoughtful leadership, and vision rooted in equity, inclusion, and creative innovation. I’ll remain Founding Chair, Advisor to the Chair, and part-time faculty member — supporting the next era of this remarkable community.
It’s a meaningful milestone. Adriana is a remarkable leader: formerly as Director of Programs and faculty member, she helped evolve the design curriculum — launching needed initiatives in emerging technologies. She partnered with me as Interim and Associate Chair, advancing learning models to include capacities in ethics, AI, spatial computing, and founding a Spatial Computing Lab. Her leadership ensures students can continue the program’s vision, evolved for 2025 forward.
MFA Interaction Design original identity, designed by The Heads of State in 2008
Students have shaped the foundation of a digital design landscape. Faculty have taught me more than I can express. And as a community, we uphold the values of SVA’s co-founder Silas Rhodes who challenged us: “An idea is just an idea until you make it real.” Adriana’s leadership continues this legacy — ensuring students have the tools to build the future only they can envision.
It has been the privilege of a lifetime to lead this program through a time of transformation and expansion. My first office was in a converted facilities closet! Today, we occupy a beautiful studio space in Chelsea, NYC — and a Visible Futures Lab that we helped shape — that has hosted countless classes, crits, celebrations, and moments of transformation and discovery. Over the past 17 years, our community has journeyed from Governor’s Island to the Arctic Circle. I couldn’t be prouder of what our faculty, students, alumni, and staff have accomplished.
Here’s to the future — and the ideas, platforms, and futures students will make real. There’s a profound and inspiring future ahead of this program, and I can’t wait to see what the community builds together.
