Steve Ater
MFA, Graphic Design, the University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, Illinois
Tenure-Track
Steve has been a design educator since 1982. His appointments include: the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; North Carolina State University; Arizona State University; and the University of Washington.
He has over 25 years of professional experience in design, brand development and strategy, brand positioning, design education, as well as curriculum development and public speaking. As a seasoned executive, Steve utilizes his unique talent of monitoring current and future cultural and technological trends, along with his background in semiology and design principles to help build relevant design concepts, products and special initiatives.
During his career Steve has directed many precedent branding projects including: The North Carolina Arts Council; Highline Community College; Herman Miller Dealer Extranet; Delta Marine; Gerding Edlen Development; Pioneer Museum of Motorcycles; Arscentia; and MPL2.com. He has also contributed to many branding projects as a strategist, researcher, creative director and designer including: Microsoft Education; Microsoft Backoffice; Microsoft Publisher 98-99; Corbis Images; Microsoft Recruiting and Microsoft Press.
Steve has held executive level positions for design agencies as well as Internet development firms, including: Parallel Communications; MPL2; Saltmine; Siteworks; Aris; and Arscentia. Over the past ten years, Steve has built three strategic branding and design practices, and is also co-founder and principal of Think2a.
Jason Sobottka
MFA, University of Minnesota
Tenured
Jason the first Humanities and Visual Art instructor at Lake Washington Technical College. He teaches several courses for the Bachelor of Technology in Applied Design including: CMST 302, Mass Communication; HUM 311, Design Theory; and the elective ART 324, Printmaking for Designers.
Prior to working at LWTC, Jason taught art and design courses for Green River Community College and the University of Minnesota. His professional experience includes work at the Tacoma Art Museum Education Department, where he designed and built the the Open Art Studio, a hands-on art-creation gallery. Prior to joining LWTC, Jason worked for two years in the Learning and Development Department at State Farm Mutual Insurance Company, focusing on adult learning theory, leadership and performance improvement.
He is a professional, exhibiting artist, with gallery affiliation.
William Bricken
Ph.D, Stanford University
Tenured
William teaches the Mathematics of Design course. William received his PhD in Mathematical Methods of Educational Research (with specialization in Artificial Intelligence, Statistics and Educational Psychology) in 1987. Prior to that, he was the Principal of an innovative primary school, built a house on the Big Island of Hawaii, and contributed foundational research to videogames at Atari Research Labs and to artificial intelligence at Advanced Decision Systems. In 1988, as Director of the Autodesk Research Lab, he lead a team that designed and built one of the first immersive virtual reality systems. He continued his work in VR as Principle Scientist of the UW Human Interface Technology Lab, while teaching in Industrial Engineering and in Education. He then moved to Seattle University to lead the Masters Program in Software Engineering. During this time, William consulted at Paul Allen's Interval Research Lab, focusing on the construction of computational engines based on new mathematical techniques. He is an international authority on Boundary Mathematics, which uses iconic and interactive mathematics to redefine the meaning of computation.
William was CTO of three start-up companies, each based on his work in VR and in mathematics. He joined the LWTC Math Department in 2006 in order to focus on innovative teaching practices. His BTAD Mathematics of Design course integrates formal thinking with design intuition by emphasizing the visual and interactive nature of modern mathematics.
Grace Lasker
M.S/ABD Ph.D., Molecular Genetics, University of Nebraska
Tenured
Dr. Lasker focused on human nutrition and obtained a Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences. She is currently working toward a Ph.D. in Public Health, with an emphasis in Epidemiology. Dr. Lasker comes to Lake Washington Technical College from the nutritional and agricultural research industry. Her professional history includes work as project manager, greenhouse operations manager, website developer, and grant writer/editor, among other roles. She joined LWTC in the fall of 2006 to help develop and promote the Energy & Science Technician program, and to teach courses in Chemistry, Biology, Nutrition, and Anatomy & Physiology. She also teaches Principles of Sustainability for the BTAD program. Dr. Lasker is also involved in advancing the Energy Engineering Technology initiative at LWTC through various grants and teaching.
Wes Mantooth
Ph.D, American Literature, The George Washington University
Tenured
Wes is instructor for technical writing in the BTAD program. He has had previous teaching appointments at: Montgomery College; The George Washington University; and Utah State University.
A published author, Wes is well-qualified to instruct students on principles of research, organization, and effective sentence style.
Laura Toussaint
Ph.D., Sociology, American University
Tenured
Laura teaches sociology and psychology in addition to teaching Psychology of Creativity for the BTAD program. She is the Outreach Coordinator and Membership Committee Chair for the Global and Transnational section of the American Sociological Association and a member of the Editorial Collective for Societies Without Borders. She has published articles for Sociologists for Women in Society and Bharatiya Samajik Chintan, the academic journal of the Indian Academy of Social Sciences. Her book, The Contemporary U.S. Peace Movement, based on her research of peace activists, was published in 2009. Her latest publication is a textbook chapter entitled, “Promoting Cultural Rights,” in Sociology and Human Rights, edited Judith Blau and Mark Frezzo, 2011.
Lindsay Andreotti
Masters in Organization Development, Central Washington University
Adjunct
Lindsay is our instructor for Entrepreneurship and Design. She also currently holds a teaching appointment at the University of Washington, Foster School of Business in Entrepreneurship.
She has offered several online webinars, and has facilitated and taught hundreds of corporate training programs. Linday has a deep passion for entrepreneurship, and believes that every student has the ability to be an entrepreneur if they choose a specific mindset and grow some key core competencies.
Kelly Franznick
Master of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology
Adjunct
Kelly teaches Theory of Interactivity course. He is principal and CEO of Blink 1A, a leading user experience research and design firm in Seattle.
Celeste Tell
Master of Design, Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology
Adjunct
Celeste teaches Project Management for BTAD students. She is currently co-founder and managing partner of Fair Building Technology, a technical architectural and construction management consulting firm. Celeste has managed numerous large and small-scale public and private sector projects in fields as diverse as commercial real estate/facilities, architecture/planning, construction management, workplace/interiors, contract/home furnishings, educational technology and consumer-focused health services.
She is known for her ability to organically plan and manage complex, difficult and inter-disciplinary projects to successful conclusion with an emphasis on preserving, rather than forfeiting vision in the face of real world challenges and constraints. Celeste believes that “Project Management” cannot be divorced from the overall intention and goals of a project and should be an integral part of the way that we design.
Pablo Wenceslao
Master of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Course study at M.I.T. Media Lab, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and University of Washington
Adjunct
Pablo has over 7 years of experience in the areas of architecture and industrial design. Research and areas of interest include: Kinetic and portable structures as they relate to sustainable practices and multi-programmatic spaces; multi-functional products; and projects for under-developed communities.
Design Philosophy: Place as a phenomenon is more than a location; it is made up of tangible elements and intangible forces that give space its distinct character. Architecture and industrial design not only serves as the mediator between people and place but serve as the catalyst that activates the physical and cultural environment. Designs whose role and essence engage the forces that act upon them become indelible objects in a world of constant flux.
Heath DavisMLIS, Pratt Institute
Tenured
Heath Davis serves as the applied design librarian for the BTAD program. She provides information instruction sessions, facilitates collection development for the library, and is active in various BTAD committees. Working in various museums throughout Washington, D.C. and New York City, Heath got her feet wet in a hand papermaking studio and a letterpressbusiness, before discovering her passion for libraries. Heath received a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree from Pratt Institute in New York in June 2006, and completed archives internships at Whitney Museum of American Art and Pentagram Design.
She moved to Seattle in August 2006 to work on a one-year grant-funded project in the Special Collections department of the University of Washington Libraries and subsequently worked in the historical archives of Virginia Mason Medical Center before joining Lake Washington Institute of Technology.
Since joining LWIT in September 2008, Heath has discovered a love for teaching and working with students, and also teaches the printmaking course held in the summer. Currently, Heath is working towards completing the Master of Arts in Cultural Studies (MACS) program at University of Washington Bothell.
