Screenwriting & Playwriting senior Chloe Tolderlund won 2nd place in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Collab Student Competition for Groei, a seating system made of repeating elements.

Thanks to the generous foresight made by long-time Drexel University benefactor and friend, Pearl Miller Carpel, Westphal College now has a permanent fund to support fashion, art, and design shows. The Pearl Miller Carpel Endowed Fund was created through an estate commitment and will ensure financial resources to showcase the brilliant work created by our students each year.

Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments. 

Art & Art History adjunct faculty member and visual artist Rami George is a recipient of a 2021 Pew Fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Pew Fellowships provide unrestricted awards of $75,000 to individual artists from all disciplines.

In 2021, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (ANS) launched the Museum Innovation Fund to provide seed funding to Drexel faculty and students for projects that promote conception and rapid prototyping of innovative approaches to museum learning and engagement.

In summer term of 2021, eight undergraduate students from Westphal College of Media Arts & Design participated in Drexel’s STAR (Students Tackling Advanced Research) Scholars Program through the Pennoni Honors College. The STAR Scholars Program enables a cohort of highly motivated early undergraduate students to engage in faculty-mentored research, scholarship, or creative work. This year’s STAR Scholars Summer Showcase featured in-person and virtual presentations from participating students. 

Dezeen has featured Drexel student work from graduate and undergraduate interiors as part of their annual School Shows.

Mika Osoro ('09), graduate of Drexel Westphal's MS in Fashion Design, is one of 10 up-and-coming designers to develop a collection with Nike and Serena Williams

Six faculty from Westphal College of Media Arts & Design are recipients of 2021 faculty research awards from the Drexel University Office of Faculty Advancement. Funding from the Faculty Scholarly & Creative Activity Award and Summer Research Award support tenure/tenure track faculty development of research, scholarship, and creative activities.

Evolving to align with the needs of one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, Drexel Westphal is excited to introduce the undergraduate degree in User Experience (UX) & Interaction Design (IxD). Formerly titled Interactive Digital Media, the User Experience & Interaction Design (UXID) program will continue to offer a cutting-edge curriculum that emphasizes creativity, versatility, and an interdisciplinary skillset. With this program name change, we hope to reflect current industry nomenclature and reach students who are hungry for an immersive and interdisciplinary education. 

Entertainment & Arts Management major Carly Jennion has been selected for the acclaimed Television Academy Foundation Internship program. She is one of just 50 students chosen by Television Academy members from across the country for the 2021 program.

Ashlyn Bird, Gavin Clarke, Mina Johnson, Maya Micci Morrison, Bibhav Pradhan, and Catherine Stagliano—students in Drexel Westphal’s nationally-ranked Music Industry program—are 2021 recipients of awards from the Music Business Association Scholarship Foundation. Each student will receive $5,000 toward their tuition for the upcoming academic year.

The latest collaboration in a 14-year relationship between Drexel’s Department of Digital Media and the Independence Seaport Museum is an animation recreating the perilous 1921 journey of the USS Olympia.

Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.

The Ellen Forman Memorial Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation and Drexel University announce choreographer Emma Valeria Girandola as the 2021 Ellen Forman Memorial Fund Award winner.

Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments

Each year, Drexel Magazine recognizes some of the most promising, entrepreneurial, creative, and inspiring alumni under the age of 40. These alumni launched new companies in the middle of an historic downturn, reimagined how they delivered on their talents, and, collectively, adapted their professional environments to the unique challenges of 2020. This year, seven Westphal College of Media Arts & Design alumni were highlighted as nominees of the Class of 2021.

In Spring of 2021, the Graduate College and the Steinbright Career Development Center announced their annual awards, this year honoring numerous students, one staff member, and one faculty member from the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.

Lindsay Bedford, a 3rd year grad interiors student, has been chosen as one of twenty artists in the Philadelphia area to join the 2021 Fellowship for Black Artists with Mural Arts Philadelphia

Join us for Drexel Digital Media's 2021 Showcase on Sunday, May 23 at 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT streaming via YouTube Live! The stream features live presentations by 13 senior project teams from the Animation & Visual Effects, Game Design & Production, and Interactive Digital Media programs, along with members from the College of Computing and Informatics.

Fashion Design senior Cat Pfingst was featured in The New York Times article “What Will We Do With Our Masks Now?” for recycling her D.I.Y. masks into wristlets and small makeup bags for lipstick or bobby pins.

Drexel undergraduate Interior Design student MyeongJu (MJ) Shin was recognized with a 2021 Cooperative Education Award

Brent White, director of the Drexel Jazz Orchestra and adjunct Music faculty member, has been awarded the Francis Johnson Fellowship by the Library Company of Philadelphia’s Innovation Fellowship Program. 

Fashion Design alumna Carole Hochman ('66, Honorary Degree '86), former CEO and Chief Creative Director of Naked Brand Group, is the recipient of a 2021 Harriett E. Worrell Society Award from Drexel Alumni.

Third-year Westphal Fashion Design student Nicole Castañeda was selected as the 2021 recipient of the annual Charles Evans Scholarship. 

Associate Professor of Product Design Mike Glaser was granted a US patent for his work on ClikBrik, a drummer-specific metronome.

Andre Pak, a sophomore in the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design’s Music Industry program, co-created the podcast The New Normal, which aims to destigmatize conversations surrounding mental health

This year's Arfaa lecture series concluded with a well-attended lecture by celebrated Mexican architect, designer and critic, Fernanda Canales.

Two students from Drexel’s Interior Architecture & Design program, Hadiya Bynoe-Seabron and Tiffany England, were chosen for the inaugural 2021 Metropolis Future 100. Launched by the popular Meteropolis Magazine, this recognition honors top interior design and architecture students graduating this year.

A few alums of the Drexel Interiors  graduate, and undergraduate programs have recently been recognized for their achievements in the profession.   

Graphic Design students, Ashley Wiederspahn, Matthew Barnett, and Anna Cushing received recognition for their designs, from packaging and branding to editorial design. 

On Friday, March 5, 2021, Product Design seniors Brandon Bauer, BreAnna Bechtold, Emma Dietz, Charlotte Guedalia, and Tim Stolwyk presented their work alongside students from Philadelphia University and Thomas Jefferson University at IDSA Philly’s Student Merit Awards. 

Drexel Interior Design and Interior Architecture & Design students swept the awards, winning first place for the fifth consecutive year in the annual HOK Philadelphia Futures Design Competition.

Fashion Design first-year and Westphal BRIDGE Scholar, Jazminé Morrow, is a recipient of the Black Talent in Design & Fashion Fund Scholarship, a one-time scholarship of $500 to academically successful students who are studying the fashion industry.