Education

PhD, Curriculum & Instruction, Texas A&M University-CC

MFA, Graphic Design and Visual Communication, The Savannah College of Art and Design

BED, Environmental Design, Texas A&M University College Station

Biography

Dr. Garcia holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction with a research focus on Socially Responsible Coursework and Pedagogy in Higher Education from Texas A&M University-CC and an M.F.A. in Graphic Design and Visual Communication from The Savannah College of Art and Design. Her undergraduate work was completed at Texas A&M University College Station with a B.E.D. in Environmental Design.

In 2020, Dr. Garcia was named “Educator of the Year” by AAF New Orleans. She sits on numbers boards such as the American Cancer Society New Orleans, the Women’s Shelter, the Ad Club New Orleans, Metairie Park Country Day Parents’ Association, and is currently the Co-President of the AIGA New Orleans. She is a fierce advocate for her students and the university, creating pathways for collaboration and creativity with the greater New Orleans community at-large.

Since joining Tulane in 2017, Dr. Garcia has completely revitalized and retooled the Digital Design program. She aligned the curriculum to greater New Orleans workforce needs, incorporated service-learning as a core value, sparked diversity and inclusion efforts to support student success for the local New Orleans community, and developed a new online teaching and learning model (the Compound Classroom) to address pain points in traditional online learning. In less than 2 years, the program has garnered Nationally Award-Winning student works as well as more than 35 additional district and regional awards.

Prior to joining Tulane, Dr. Garcia was a faculty fellow and Tenured Full Professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (a Hispanic Serving Institution) for more than 16 years.

Aside from being a passionate educator, Dr. Garcia is an internationally award-winning designer and uses her knowledge of the industry as a catalyst for inspiration and change in her classroom and programs. Dr. Garcia’s design work spans a vast variety of clients including Goodwill Industries, The Venetian Las Vegas, HALL Group, Time Warner Cable, United Way and Volkswagen among others. Her work has garnered national and international acclaim and she continues to publish and pursue her research in using design as powerful tool to create positive change.