Melissa Rands

Dr. Melissa Rands is Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and Interim Director of Foundation Studies at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) where she provides leadership for academic support, strategic academic initiatives, and faculty development. Dr. Rands’ research interests lie at the intersection of social learning theory and design education. She has collaborated actively with researchers in varied disciplines around k-12 and college-level learning, teacher and faculty development, critical and creative thinking, design learning, and research and evaluation methods. Dr. Rands’ research has been published in national journals, serves as a reviewer for journals, and presents at academic conferences on design, higher education, and evaluation, and lectures on research methods, creativity, design thinking, and student development theory. Dr. Rands has been a leader in higher education for over 25 years, serving in senior-level administrative positions in student and academic affairs. She holds a Ph.D. in Education, Higher Education Leadership from Iowa State University, a Master of Arts and Media Management from the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht (Utrecht School of the Arts, Netherlands), and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from MCAD.