Drexel’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design is pleased to announce that the keynote speaker for our 2025 Commencement ceremony will be Grammy Award-winning musician, producer, and composer James Poyser.

At Drexel University’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, we’re continuously pushing the boundaries of innovation – and recent facility and technology upgrades reflect our commitment to preparing students for the future of the entertainment industry. The new Immersive Audio Mixing Studio, Content Creation Studio, and LED Volume Wall bring emerging media technologies to our community, encouraging students to explore the future of immersive media and storytelling.

The Ellen Forman Memorial Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation and Drexel University announce choreographer Yuki Ishiguro as the 2024 Ellen Forman Memorial Fund Award winner. The award honors Ellen Forman, who was a dancer, choreographer and educator for more than twenty years in the Philadelphia area.

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

The Westphal Dean’s Office of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (IDEA), in partnership with the Westphal Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council (DEIC), are pleased to announce the recipients of its inaugural IDEA-Development, Education, and Cultivation (DEC) Mini-grants. These small seed grants, in amounts between $500-1000 support projects that develop, educate, and cultivate inclusion, diversity, equity, and anti-racism in accordance with the College’s Strategic Plan.

Long before she was crowned by Sports Illustrated as the greatest woman athlete of all time, Jackie Joyner-Kersee was a kid in East St. Louis, Illinois, looking for a community. She found support in a local community center, and in her first exposure to athletics. Joyner-Kersee shared the ups and downs of her story with an engaged group of students from Drexel’s various BRIDGE (Build Relationships in Diverse Group Experiences) programs.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Screenwriting & Playwriting Jeffrey Stanley, in partnership with Bangalore Little Theatre, will oversee the short play contest Sultans and Soldiers: How Two Indian Muslim Kings Energized the US Revolutionary War. Open to Drexel students with majors in Cinema & Television, Dance, English & Philosophy, or History. Prizes include gift certificates to the Drexel Bookstore and the chance for winning plays to move forward to the development stage with Drexel and Bangalore Little Theatre – with a possible future production.

We are excited to announce that Drexel University’s Bachelor’s of Architecture is among 22 programs from 14 institutions nationwide to receive a U.S. Department of Energy Zero Energy Design Designation (ZEDD). This designation recognizes college programs that prepare students for 21^stcentury clean energy buildings careers.

With sadness, we share news of the passing of Rainer John “Ray” Westphal, trustee emeritus and ardent support of Drexel University and the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.

In memory of former Interim Dean and Emeritus Professor David Raizman, family and friends established the David S. Raizman Endowed Memorial Award. David's energy and leadership impacted hundreds of colleagues and this Award will be given in his name for perpetuity. The Award recognizes a current faculty member who exemplifies distinguished service, teaching, and leadership in accordance with the values of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.

What are the qualities of sustainable citizenship? How can STEM leaders encourage these qualities in a rising generation? How can design thinking unlock the qualities of sustainable citizens? These questions, and more, drive recent programming from EUREKA! a partnership between Drexel and Girls Inc. of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey.

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.

Several students from Drexel’s Digital Media Department had research projects completed in Drexel’s new Digital Media Undergraduate Research Labaccepted into the National Conference on Undergraduate Research(NCUR), set to take place virtually from April 12-14, 2021.

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

Westphal College alumna Courtney Sabo (Graphic Design ’15) is recognized in Forbes’  “30 Under 30” in the Consumer Technology category. Courtney Sabo is cofounder of Kopa, a long-term rental platform for finding roommates and apartments.

2020 Photography alumna Hannah Beier's portrait of Elissa DeFrancheschi is recognized alongside images of President-Elect Biden, Megan Thee Stallion, and the founders of Black Lives Matter in TIME Magazine's round-up of the year's best portraits.

Tom Quinn, Assistant Professor and Program Director for Film & Television, was awarded a 2020 Fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Pew Fellowships provide unrestricted awards of $75,000 to individual artists from all disciplines. 

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

Get Out the Vote poster design competition is powered by Graphics Group, a Drexel University student organization, and open to all Westphal College of Media Arts & Design students! The goal of this nonpartisan, apolitical poster design competition is to unite Drexel Westphal students under a noble cause, highlight the power of design in civic action, and encourage the Drexel community to vote.

Drexel University Fashion Design ’20 alumni Amanda Forastieri won the 2020 Supima Design Competition with her collection Utopia presented during the 13th annual runway show on September 10, 2020. The event was open to all and broadcasted on Supima's Instagram Live with host and renowned celebrity image architect, Law Roach.

It is with great sadness that we recognize the passing renowned professor Walter H. Moleski on November 30.  Born and raised in the Philadelphia area, Walter first became interested in architecture as a child and he later graduated from the Tulane Architecture School in 1960. Returning to Philadelphia he worked for several architectural firms including Louis Sauer and GBQC before starting a partnership with George Manos. 

Shushi Yoshinaga, Associate Professor in the Graphic Design program, led a group of Drexel University and Tamagawa University students in a joint study, “Aging, Technology and Japanese Culture” to research the challenging issues of an aging society in Japan.

The Interior Design and Architecture programs of Westphal College received commendation from highly respected DesignIntelligence. The publication surveyed 9,000 hiring professionals, 4,200 professional practice organizations, and over 6,000 students. This year’s rankings are for 12 different areas of focus, and Westphal is recognized in 11 of these 12 categories. Additionally, we are pleased to report that our Architecture program was ranked among the Most Admired Architecture programs in the nation.

Drexel University’s Department of Performing Arts presents SUPPER, People on the Move! performed by the Cardell Dance Theater with choreography by Philadelphia-based artist Silvana Cardell. SUPPER will be performed from November 8-10 in Drexel’s URBN Center Annex Black Box Theater.

The Department of Cinema & Television’s Nicholas Natalicchio wears many hats: adjunct instructor for the Film & Television program, Post Production Facilities Manager, Executive Producer for Dragon Productions—the department’s student-staffed video production company—and independent filmmaker and multimedia professional. Between all of this, Nick found time to sit down with Vivianna Bermudez, Westphal’s Director of Communications & Events, and share some news about his latest project, an award winning documentary short titled “The Tides That Bind.”

This year, six Drexel Fashion Design students submitted work to the 2018 International Fashion Illustration Competition in Korea and all six received awards for their excellent submissions.

After intensive preparation and rigorous review, the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) is pleased to recognize the Interior Design and Interior Architecture programs at Drexel University for “meeting educational quality standards and preparing graduates who will contribute to the future excellence of the interior design profession.”  

Two students in the Interior Architecture & Design graduate program won first and second place in the 17th Annual Jacobs Interior Design Competition.

Xiaohan Zhou, second year graduate fashion design student, appeared on Chinese fashion competition show, along with numerous recent awards and honors.

Current Product Design student, Jason Wong details his travels this semester in Florence, Italy on the Drexel University Study Abroad Blog.

Ten students from the Cinema & Television Department of the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design are nominated for a NATAS Award—a Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmy Award—for Westphal's student-produced sitcom Off Campus. Off Campus takes home NATAS Award on October 13.

The Westphal College of Media Arts & Design’s Interior Design programs were recognized among the ‘Most Admired Design Schools in the US’ by DesignIntelligence, a highly respected resource for design practitioners and educators.

Ala Felemban, Interior Architecture & Design Masters student, is the winner of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's 2017 Collab Student Design Competition's People Choice Award, with an astounding 1,401 votes for the work AF Partition. 

Do you have children, siblings, friends or peers interested in attending Westphal? Our Summer Programs are now enrolling High School students who want to get a head start on college studies.

We sat down with Mark Stockton, Art & Art History Professor, to learn more about his work, practice, and perspectives. 

Interdisciplinary learning is a key component to our curriculum at Westphal. In the winter term students will have the opportunity to learn from a product designer and visual artists duo in Making Things Move; explore the physicality of virtual reality in Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Reality; develop wearable technology in Pattern Material and Form; or get lost in the oddities of 1950s television programming in Supernatural Drama.  Click to read full descriptions about these engaging course offerings. 

Edinburgh, UK is the epicenter for global creativity each August when the city hosts the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe (The Fringe) for over three full weeks. In 2017 alone an astounding 53,232 performances of 3,398 shows in 300 venues took place, and Drexel students were there for every minute of it as part of the Drexel Summer Break in Scotland: Edinburgh Fringe Intensive. 

The Drexel Concert Band, comprised of over 70 musicians from across the University, will present Luminescence on Sunday, December 10 at 7PM in Mandell Theater. Their Fall Concert program is curated around the theme of light and the spirit of the holiday season, and includes works by Tchaikovsky, Wilson, Ticheli, Zainelli, & Reed.

Mutant Water Babies is an original musical receiving its first workshop production through the collaboration of Drexel’s Co-Op Theatre Company and New York based theater company CollaborationTown (CTown), and playing at the Mandell Theater from November 8th through the 19th.  

Be part of the prestigious Edinburgh Television Conference Network program-for a select group of young people focused on careers in the industry. 

The University Concert Band and University Orchestra are comprised of talented student musicians drawn from all of Drexel’s Colleges and Schools who are playing at an impressively high level. This term both ensembles will welcome renowned professional musicians to collaborate on their upcoming performances in the Fall Concert Series.

Kyle Abraham, the critically acclaimed choreographer and dancer, recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant and Artistic Director of Abraham.In.Motion will visit on Thursday, December 1 for a lecture, free and open to the public starting at 7pm in Mitchell Auditorium (3141 Market Street). 

Five of our talented Product Design undergraduate students had their designs on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of the annual Collab Student Design Competition. 

Lynn Povich, an award winning journalist and author of THE GOOD GIRLS REVOLT: How the Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace– the inspiration for the new Amazon original series Good Girls Revolt, will visit on Thursday, November 17 for a screening and book signing event that is free and open to the public in our URBN Annex Screening Room starting at 7pm. The event is presented by the Kal and Lucille Rudman Institute for Entertainment Industry Studies.

Michael Ludwig, Concertmaster of Philly POPS, the largest standalone pops orchestra in the United States, and world-class soloist will lead a master class on Monday, November 14 at 6:30pm in the Main Auditorium.

Over the last 20 years, our Design & Merchandising Program’s Visual Merchandising community window partnership has beautified and enlivened numerous retail window displays for stores throughout the City. Twenty jury members representing different companies from across the City judge the entries and our student designed and installed windows were the only finalists in the category of Best Window Design.

Our Graphic Design Program had an outstanding summer receiving recognition from The University & College Designers Association (UCDA) Annual competition, The Journal of Art & Design’s Creative Quarterly 45, and the Annual GDUSA American Graphic Design Awards. 

Drexel’s Museum Leadership Program will welcome celebrated Philadelphia artist, John Dowell Jr., for a lecture on Wednesday, October 26 at 5:15pm in the URBN Annex Screening Room.

National Endowment for the Art’s Big Read Festival and Drexel’s Writers Room are paying tribute to one of the pre-eminent writers of twentieth-century African-American literature, Zora Neale Hurston and her novel “Their Eyes Were Watching Gods”. Included in the events is a presentation of the creative outcomes developed during Dance Professor Tania Issac’s four-week long workshop re-interpreting Hurston’s text which will be presented on Saturday, October 29 at 7:00pm in Van Rensselaer Hall.

The Project HOME Art Program empowers homeless men, women, and low-income families to express their personal journeys through art-making. With ongoing partnerships between Project HOME and Drexel, Westphal will host its third Artists for All Seasons exhibition featuring the works of select Project HOME artists.

As part of Drexel University’s 125th anniversary, two of our Graphic Design seniors created logos that will be used in the year’s upcoming events.

With a city full of rich Italian-American culture and history, we’re excited to host two fantastic projects, free and open to the public on Sunday, October 16th as part of the 3rd Annual Ciao Philadelphia, the Italian Cultural Month with diverse programming running through October with events in Philadelphia and throughout the region.

Our Product Design Program has forged a new partnership with the international, high-end audio manufacturer, Devialet, to develop new products, prototypes and ways to extend their product line by expanding awareness and use by design professionals and consumers.

On Thursday, October 13th, The Department of Architecture & Interiors’ Arfaa Lecture will feature Harris Steinberg, Distinguished Teaching Professor and the Executive Director of the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, and Gerard Sweeney, President of Brandywine Realty Trusts for a panel discussion entitled Town and Gown: Creating Schuylkill Yards, focusing on the major development plans for West Philadelphia being led by Drexel in partnership with Brandywine.

On Friday, October 14th we’ll host the Design Research Symposium, a series of events that explore the emerging field growing out of the work of artists, designers and interdisciplinary collaborators whose investigations push the boundaries of traditional disciplines, requiring interdisciplinary approaches, the mastery of new technologies, and intensive research to unearth solutions to practical and aesthetic problems.