MDes Announces Its Director of Career Development!

We are delighted to share that Stephanie Bianco has been appointed the Director of Career Development for the MDes & the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation (JIDI)!

Stephanie Bianco is a career educator with years of experience working in higher ed, where she has taught and engaged with students from a range of backgrounds from across the globe. Stephanie has a passion for career development and supporting students as they prepare for their futures and career pathways. She is excited to build a program from scratch at Jacobs Institute that emphasizes equity, inclusion and access and best meets the unique needs of the MDes students and those studying design at JIDI.

Stephanie brings informed perspectives from engineering and sustainability to her role at Jacobs Institute. She holds a MS in Water Resources Engineering and a Graduate Certificate in College and University Teaching from Oregon State University. She has taught undergraduate courses in sustainability and world geography. She has also worked as a consulting civil engineer, designing stormwater treatment systems for clients across the Pacific Northwest. She clearly shares our values in the MDes, and her own non-linear career path informs how she supports students in navigating change and transitions in their lives.

In her most recent role as a Student Services Advisor in the College of Engineering, she designed a wide range of professional development programs to help master’s students approach life and career wayfinding with confidence and joy. Her knowledge of UC Berkeley will let her hit the ground running with the MDes students, as our first cohort prepares for their next steps after graduation and our second cohort secures their Design@Large experiences.

Stephanie shared that she is thrilled to be joining the team at the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, and to take on the exciting work of helping you, our students and future alumni, land and grow in careers you’re passionate about, and ones in which you can use your unique talents and strengths to make a positive difference in the world.

Stephanie will start her position on Monday, April 18, 2022. Please join me in welcoming Stephanie to the MDes and Jacobs Hall!