Meredith Davis

In 1989, Davis quit her practice and teaching at VCU to move to North Carolina where she focused on research and teaching as a professor at North Carolina State University (NCSU). She quickly was promoted that year to head the new Graphic Design department and in 1997 became director of the Graduate Program. Her 1999 book Design as a Catalyst for Learning received a CHOICE Award from the Association of College and Research Libraries. In 2005, she became the director of the Ph.D program in Design at NCSU, the second such program in the United States.

After graduating, Davis became the curator of education at the Hunter Museum of Art in Chattanooga, Tennessee from 1975 to 1976. In 1976 she began teaching full-time at Virginia Commonwealth University. She founded her firm Communication Design in 1979. There, she oversaw large-scale projects for Fortune 500 clients including Best Products, the United Nations, and Twentieth Century Fund.

Davis graduated from The Pennsylvania State University in 1970, receiving her BS in art education and her MEd in 1974. She began her career teaching middle-school art. In 1975, she received her MFA in design from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. While at Cranbrook, she received a grant to develop the Michigan curriculum to introduce students to communication, objects and environments through design thinking. The curriculum research culminated in authoring Problem Solving in the Man-made Environment in 1974.

Meredith Davis (born 1948, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an educator, writer and graphic designer. Her work centers for advocating for a comprehensive, critical and challenging design education.