Rachel McDonald

Biography

Rachel McDonald is a designer, educator, Louisiana native, and expat at heart. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University Shreveport where she teaches graphic design and digital media. She earned an MFA in design and visual communications from the University of Florida where she also taught foundational design courses to undergraduate students. She also worked as an Instructional Assistant Professor in graphic design at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois and remotely for Shanghai Normal University in Shanghai, China. She received her BFA in fine arts from Louisiana Tech University and earned a certificate in visual effects and animation from LSU Shreveport.

Degrees

Research Interests

In 2014, she lived and worked in Busan, South Korea for three years as an English teacher, volunteer, travel photographer, and freelance illustrator. Her experience in Busan informed her work by highlighting issues faced by young students in cyclical poverty—issues that she found were paralleled in her small hometown in Louisiana. Drawing from these experiences, her current work focuses on human-centered design to foster educational opportunity, equity, representation, and cultural awareness for youth on the economic and social margins.