Whitman College Human-Centered Design Visiting Mentor (1099 contractor)

Abstract: The Whitman College Human-Centered Design Visiting Mentor is a design professional who will participate in intermittent virtual and in-person advising and teaching in the Whitman College Human-Centered Design program. This includes leading class meetings in HCD courses advising students in the program (including senior capstone students) offering workshops and advising faculty on curricular projects and industry best practices. The central aim is to integrate a liberal arts approach with the practice of design. This is a 1099 contractor position.

Expected commitment: Two 3-4 day in-person visits during both fall and spring semesters and additional virtual visits and meetings with students spread across 10 months from August 2026 through May 2027.

Compensation: $5000 payment and funding for travel expenses for 2 in-person visits to campus

The Whitman College Human-Centered Design academic program began in 2023-24. Human-centered design is guided by principles of belonging inclusivity and empathy and works to help students respond to essential human and non-human needs that are embedded in unequal and unjust systems and structures. HCD focuses on understanding and creating aesthetic usable accessible and sustainable artifacts grounded in ethical practices and interrogated within historical aesthetic environmental technological and cultural contexts. Students involved in HCD participate in a robust and innovative journey as they take courses gain collaborative and practical experience and develop a portfolio. Their designs may be physical digital or social. The HCD Concentration may be paired with any academic major.

Members of the Human-Centered Design program at Whitman College are dedicated to relationship-building among and across a network of teachers and learners both on- and off-campus. The Whitman HCD Visiting Mentor is a professional working in a design-based role and/or practitioner of HCD who will guide various stakeholdersespecially studentsin on-site and virtual collaborative moments during an academic year with the hope that the mentorship and relationships will continue beyond the mentorship time period. Creating a mentoring role offered by practitioners in design professions within the Whitman Alumni Network aligns with our work to be responsive and thoughtful about opportunities to be on the leading edge of the discipline to prepare students to be inclusive leaders during and after Whitman and to connect multiple stakeholders associated with the College including students staff faculty and alumni.

Through the Visiting Mentor role we hope to enrich the HCD concentration with meaningful connections to working professionals who can provide HCD students faculty and staff with helpful of the moment connections to relevant industries and sectors guidance around the development of the concentration and its unique positioning within a liberal arts education and opportunities to fill curriculum and skills gaps that arent covered by current Whitman faculty expertise.

Visiting Mentors will support students and faculty in the Whitman College Human-Centered Design Program which is an academic concentration at the College that includes credit-bearing courses co-curricular work applied design projects and the development of a design portfolio. These individuals will be experienced design practitioners whose work aligns with the principles guiding the concentration and who demonstrate HCD learning objectives and an interdisciplinary liberal arts approach to design in their work. These individuals will need to be able to connect their work with existing academic programs on campus beyond HCD. As with any instructional hire anyone who fills this position must demonstrate how theyd create an inclusive learning environment and attend to issues of diversity equity and inclusion more broadly. Teaching experience in college classrooms is not required but demonstration of teaching and mentoring promise thatwith provided professional developmentcan easily translate into liberal arts college courses and advising sessions is required.

Content and mentor expertise areas will be open but will rotate such that varied areas of design expertise may be shared at Whitman over the course of any students time here. For example one year we may have an expert in digital game design and then someone in education design the next year. After that we may have a costume designer followed by a museum curatorial designer. Or a digital archive designer or sustainable landscape designer. Or an architect or graphic designer.

Whitman HCD Visiting Mentors will teach in a general enough way that human-centered design and multiple design methodologies would be included. Additionally a Visiting Mentor might share their unique approaches to the design process. These practitioners may have specialized skills and expertise but any specialty would need to be taught in a way that students can adapt their learning to their own projects and to a liberal arts approach to learning. This requires an interdisciplinary approach with attention to critical thinking and creative problem solving integrating theories and concepts with questions of ethics sustainability and equitable access to design. For example a landscape designer might apply a liberal arts approach to learning by making connections between their work and plant biology environmental science geography and Indigenous cultures by incorporating native plants into a design. They might guide the students in a critical thinking exercise to imagine how the choice of native versus non-native plants would impact aesthetics water use and maintenance. For the 2026-27 academic year preference for Visiting Mentors will be given to Whitman College alumni.

We imagine the engagement with the HCD Visiting Mentors will help students to access support and guidance across the arc of their learning journey. Students might encounter a Visiting Mentor through a lecture or activity in class participation in a workshop visits during online office hours or via feedback on an HCD project or portfolio. From feedback on the design of their HCD concentration experience to contextualizing their liberal arts education with potential HCD career pathways the Visiting Mentors will help students bridge their academic career and their professional career. Other engagement will be with faculty staff and perhaps even local community members through the tasks outlined below.

In the Visiting Mentor position you will commit to two 3-4 day in-person visits plus periodic virtual engagement in the form of presentations and advising spread across a 10-month period (August through May). A 10-month commitment is required in order to develop and nurture long-term relationships among stakeholders involved with the program. Precise content and timing of work will be co-designed with HCD this position you will:

• Participate in a few hours (virtual) of independent and collaborative professional development related to mentoring in the HCD program and creating an inclusive learning environment in a liberal arts teaching context (August)

• Visit campus for 3-4 days early in the fall semester (September) and 3-4 days in the spring semester (specific time TBD) to facilitate in-person HCD class sessions

• Offer an in-person workshop or talk (outside of class sessions) during one or both of the visits

• Provide virtual office hours for students taking HCD courses

• Provide student project and portfolio critiques and tips

• Communicate regularly with HCD faculty co-directors other Visiting Mentors and departments and programs with content areas that align with your interests and expertise

As a Mentor you are also invited to:

• Involve HCD students in your design practice if possible (what this looks like will vary depending on designer)

• Connect your work with people and organizations in Walla Walla

• Support the development and implementation of co-curricular design-based learning experiences which may or may not connect to your workplace

• Stay involved with HCD in fulfilling ways after the Mentorship is completed

Mentors may work in the public or private sector and must arrange any needed permissions to receive compensation outside of another paid position. They cannot be current employees of Whitman College. Class sessions will be co-designed with Whitman faculty and will align with Mentor areas of expertise. Class sessions workshops and meetings will occur on weekdays. If a Mentors current design practice continues during the Mentorship period it must complement and not inhibit the work done on campus.

The Whitman College HCD Program has received financial support for the Visiting Mentor Program from the Lawrence Parke Murphy Trust. Mentors are compensated as follows:

• $5000 payment

• Reimbursement for food and travel expenses for two 3-4 day in-person visits to Walla Walla per Whitman College travel policies

• If needed student assistance and supplies for class sessions or workshops will be provided by the HCD program

To apply please submit the following to by June 10 2026:

1. A letter of interest noting availability between August 2026 and May 2027 (including September and January-April for in-person visits) and addressing your qualifications for the position as well as your experiences creating inclusive and accessible work or learning environments

2. A resume or CV

3. A digital portfolio (or equivalent in your field) that highlights your expertise with human-centered design generally with specific examples of projects included. If sharing designs is difficult due to NDAs or proprietary information please inquire with Michelle Janning () about alternatives.

Please contact Michelle Janning at

Calendar: finalists will be interviewed before the end June; participation begins in late August.