New head of Penn State Graphic Design to be introduced to community Jan. 14

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Phil Choo, a national and international award-winning designer who was named the head of the Graphic Design program in December, will be the guest of honor at a welcome reception to be held at 5 p.m. on Jan. 14 for faculty and staff. Following the reception, Choo will speak about his past experiences and his vision for the Penn State Graphic Design program moving into the new year and beyond. Both the reception and the talk, which is slated for 6 p.m., will be held in the Jury Space in the Stuckeman Family Building. Choo comes to Happy Valley from Oklahoma State University where he was a professor and coordinator of the M.F.A. in Graphic Design in the Department of Art, Graphic Design and Art History. His research focuses on branding design and user experience design. In 2017, Choo was named the Oklahoma State Riata Center for Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellow of the Year. He recently conducted a branding project, White Box, by using virtual reality with both the Department of Architecture and the Riata Center. White Box is a project intended to highlight Oklahoma State entrepreneurs by placing their products in a student union pop-up store for both selling and research purposes. Choo has received top honors in the University and College Designers Association Design Competition; Graphis; International Visual Identity Awards; American Advertising Awards (formerly the Addy Award); the annual Graphex Design Awards from the Art Director’s Club in Tulsa; the Art Design Institute Award Exhibition at the China Academy of Art; and the National Educators’ Design Exhibition, among others. Faculty and staff, please complete the doodle poll to RSVP for the welcome reception. Students are welcome to attend the talk at 6 p.m. (no RSVP is required).