MFA Thesis Exhibition

Tim Cooke 

Using design-thinking to address escalating commitment risks in decision-making

Humans make plans for all sorts of endeavors throughouttheir lives, but what happens when there is reason tobelieve the plan will not work?

Taylor Edwards 

Generational Differences: Millennial & Baby Boomer’s Philanthropic Engagement

Philanthropic engagement is a crucial part of the functioning and success of colleges and universities nationwide. Much research has been done to evaluation the generations and how they each operate, but little has been done to investigate baby boomers compared to millennials.

Mallory Griffith 

Using Design-Thinking Methods to Determine University Intervention

More than 30 million students file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each year. But what happens next? For many students, they must follow up with verification documents and loan requests among other documents, interpret and then accept the award offer, and often pay unanticipated out-of-pocket remaining costs.

Brian Long

Application of Human-Centered Design to Identify and Address Challenges in the Baltimore Theatre Community

Theatre industry challenges are well documented in case studies and publications around the world; thus, it was surprising to find there were no such research studies on the theatre community in Baltimore.  As the foundational research study on this topic, findings will inform future research by providing a baseline understanding of challenges faced by Baltimore theatre companies and highlighting areas for further research.   The purpose of this research study was to determine how industry challenges are experienced in the Baltimore theatre community and engage with the people that organize, create, and perform theatrical works in Baltimore to help them collectively identify and address challenges.

Tim Phipps

Creating storage solutions for theatre programs: The time and cost of all those props

Technical theatre is not a field commonly researched. Even within the world of academic theatre, there is limited scholarly work taking place. In most cases, contributions to the body of knowledge occur through design work or innovations despite the fact that there are challenges affecting many small theatre groups. This causes the individual theatre groups to develop solutions independently.

Nakia Shelton

Using Design Thinking to Explore Burnout Among Designers in the Workplace and Propose Solutions

Burnout is an occupational phenomenon and is defined as a “psychological syndrome in response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job” (Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001, pg. 399; World Health Organization, 2019a; World Health Organization, 2019b). Three key dimensions of this response are an overwhelming exhaustion, depersonalization/cynicism, and reduced efficacy or accomplishment (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996; Maslach et al., 2001).

Betsy Tuma

Examining the Intersection of Humor and Creativity

It's no secret that comedic improvisation takes a quick mind, active listening skills, and a willingness to explore the unexpected. The same skills are at the heart of ideation and innovation. Creatively confident individuals are willing to take risks, fail, and work at the edges of their comfort zone in order to find creative solutions to problems. Creative confidence builds on the social cognitive theory of psychology which states that social interactions are an important part of how people learn new skills.

It's no secret that comedic improvisation takes a quick mind, active listening skills, and a willingness to explore the unexpected. The same skills are at the heart of ideation and innovation. Creatively confident individuals are willing to take risks, fail, and work at the edges of their comfort zone in order to find creative solutions to problems. Creative confidence builds on the social cognitive theory of psychology which states that social interactions are an important part of how people learn new skills.