Meet SUGD
Facilities
Cunningham Center for Music and Art
The department of art offers courses in the Cunningham Center for Music and Art and the dedicated Art Studio Building.
- Majors enjoy 24-hour electronic card-swipe access to all art facilities and state of the art computer labs, open only to departmental students.
- Smart Classrooms for graphic design, photography, and art history.
- Brand new graphic design suite designed to mimic the inner workings of an agency—including 22 fully equipped iMac computers, 2 Wacom Cintiq Pros, dedicated lecture and production space, flat file storage, design library and presentation walls.
- Fully renovated fine arts building with a unique translucent wall and dedicated spaces for painting, drawing, and foundations work.
- Digital photography computer lab and classroom with studio lighting, seamless cloth and paper backgrounds, and dedicated lecture, critique, and production space
- The CCMA common area, the place to find art and music students between classes.
State of the Art
- Two fully-equipped computer labs exclusively for graphic design majors. Card swipe access for department majors ensures unlimited exclusive access.
- SU DOES NOT CHARGE LAB or PRINTING FEES.
- New computers every four years — each student will enjoy brand new machines during their career at Susquehanna.
- Access to a dedicated server array. This means that every graphic design major is granted free unlimited electronic data storage on secure campus servers.
- Ultra-large format color printers, and we DO NOT charge students for prints.
- Numerous scanners and digital SLR cameras dedicated for student use.
- Adobe Creative Cloud software on every machine, including Illustrator, XD, Photoshop, InDesign, Lightroom, Bridge, Dreamweaver, and Flash; Sketch; Microsoft Office, and Apple’s iLife.
Our History
Founded in 2002 by Mark Fertig (1972-2021), the Graphic Design program at Susquehanna University has spent nearly two-decades training and developing some of the nation’s top designers. The foundation of the program is simple—process and concept are king. Hard work, over talent, wins the day. See everything. Solve the problem. And dare we say it…just give a damn. These ideals fuel a community of designers that are changing the landscape of design every day and are doing so with the support of the family they built in room 202.
Hard work, over talent, wins the day. See everything. Solve the problem.
Award Winning Faculty
Amanda Lenig, M.F.A.
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design
Chair of the Department of Art + Design
Amanda Lenig is an educator, creative director, designer, and illustrator. She earned her M.F.A. in Graphic Design from Marywood University and is currently Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Chair of the Department of Art + Design. Her work has been awarded and published on a national and international level including Graphic Design USA, Graphis, Creative Quarterly, American Graphic Design and Advertising (AGDA), American Advertising Awards (AAF) and the Association of Illustrators London (AOI). Professionally, Lenig’s work focuses on Branding and Identity Development and personally, she enjoys exploring found object digital collage. Lenig teaches both lower and upper level Graphic Design courses, including Visual Communications, Branding, Web Design, Package Design and Publication Design. Her classes focus on real-world design solutions, problem solving and design thinking skills that allow students to develop both the tangible and intangible skills they will need to be successful and happy professionals.
Ann Piper, M.F.A.
Associate Professor of Studio Art
Ann Piper holds a B.F.A from the Maryland Institute, College of Art and an M.F.A from New Mexico State University. Her paintings and drawings have been exhibited widely across the United States for the past twenty years. Professionally, Piper’s work focuses on the figure as a vehicle for creating a series of personal vignettes. She examines human relationships through her devised images by assigning roles, removing context, arranging objects, and offering it up for reinterpretation. Her artwork has appeared in The Perception of Appearance: A Decade of American Contemporary Figurative Drawing (Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington) as well as the 4th INPA (International Painting Annual) (MANIFEST, Cincinnati, Ohio). She has been awarded the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Grant, the Jentel Artist Residency Program Grant, and most recently, in 2019, the Pentaculum Artists’ Residency at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Piper is an Associate Professor of Art at Susquehanna and teaches studio art classes at Susquehanna University, including Foundations of Art I and II, Printmaking and Painting.
Izabel Galliera PhD.
Assistant Professor of Art History
Izabel Galliera holds a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Pittsburgh. She is Assistant Professor of Art History and contributor to the interdisciplinary Minor in Museum Studies. Her research interests are at the intersection of art, politics and social justice, contemporary art in a global context with a particular focus on activist art forms. In 2017 IB Tauris, now Bloomsbury Press, published her book Socially Engaged Art After Socialism: Art and Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe.
Dr. Galliera teaches a myriad of lower and upper-level art history classes, including Women in Art, Socially Engaged Art, Contemporary Art and Introduction to Art History. She practices and believes in the Reacting to the Past immersive pedagogy that teaches students persuasive writing, problem solving, critical and creative thinking, reading comprehension, public speaking and negotiation.
Gordon Wenzel
Adjunct Faculty in Photography
Gordon Wenzel is a practitioner of photography specializing in commercial, editorial and advertising photography. He earned the distinction of Master Photographer from the Professional Photographers of America and was awarded the Merit Degree from the Professional Photographers of Pennsylvania. His publication credits include Photos that Inspire, Direct Art Magazine, PPofA Loan Collection and Polaroid International Photography. His work has also appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, New York Post and American Photographer. Wenzel’s fine art photography examines human endeavor’s environmental and economic impact. His work has been exhibited extensively including Kodak Loan Collection Epcot Center FL, Glasglow Gallery of Photography UK, Gallery Arcturus Toronto and the Art Association of Harrisburg. At Susquehanna, his lower and upper level photography courses focus on “learning to see,” critically evaluating images and developing the tangible problem solving skills needed to be a working professional photographer. Areas of study include advertising, fine art, portrait photography and photojournalism.
Laura Libert
Lore Degenstein Gallery Director
Laura Libert holds a B.A. in art history from the University of Florida and an M.A. in art history from Florida State University. She has a multitude of experience in academic museums and galleries in curatorial, educational, and administrative capacities, having previously held positions at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University and the Samek Art Museum at Bucknell University. She joined the staff and faculty at Susquehanna University in July 2021 as the Lore Degenstein Gallery Director. Her position oversees the gallery’s exhibition schedule, putting together approximately 5 exhibitions every academic year. She also manages the gallery’s student employees, mentors gallery interns, and teaches courses in art history as adjunct faculty in the art and design department. Her research interests include word/image studies and graphic narrative, and she is a passionate advocate for sustainability in the arts and culture sector.
James Henderson
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design
James Henderson is a graphic designer, educator, and writer with a design style that includes minimalism, collage and street art. He received is MFA in Graphic Design from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Jimmy has worked for ten years as a graphic designer and his passions include branding, logo design, vinyl toys, street art, and craft beer design. Henderson was a 2019 winner of the STA 100 Typography Award and has had work featured in the Dieline, LogoLounge, Design Incubator and Slanted magazine. When he isn’t fully immersed in the design world he enjoys playing video games and aspires to one day be the Anthony Bourdain of the craft beer experience. He truly believes that showing work, sharing information and offering mentorship for other designers is vital to the success of our industry and helps build a creative community. Henderson teaches both lower and upper level Graphic Design courses, including Computer Application in Graphic Design, Package Design and Typography.