The Power+Place Collaborative collects oral histories from surrounding Alamance County community members to record, preserve, present and celebrate diverse perspectives. For this project, ������Ƶ students interviewed eight different storytellers. These diverse storytellers showcased their stories, focusing on the communal impact of food, addressing the disparities in food justice and discussing the structural aspects of our food systems.

Not only did the storytellers highlighted by Power+Place represent a diverse sample of Alamance County, but the screening participants also provided an opportunity for interracial and intergenerational communities to interact. An audience of approximately 90 people, with over 80 residing within Alamance County, listened to these impactful stories and participated in meaningful conversations surrounding the inequalities, effects, and workings of the local food system.

Screening participants were prompted to enter discussions with their group members after each pairing of video stories. From the session focused on the communal impacts of food and food systems, one sample group said, “Food facilitates community and interaction between individuals both in the creation of meals and enjoyment of them.”

This idea was shared by several participant groups, with others highlighting how social inequalities, such as financial hardships and lack of governmental support to combat hunger, affect how various communities have relationships with food.

Not only do social inequalities affect communal relationships with food at a broader level, but discussion groups were also prompted to analyze the disconnects within the local Alamance County systems.

In one discussion, participants analyzed the disconnect between corporate and small food companies, saying that the “prohibitive costs associated with ethical consumption (buying local, organic, etc.) have also hindered inclusivity and accessibility, making it difficult for people that represent different demographics to participate equally in food.”

While these questions prompted analysis of these disconnects at the local level, participants were also prompted to discuss how food systems could be improved to increase inclusivity and equitable access. Participants provided a variety of powerful answers, including ideas on how to promote ethical food consumption, encouraging collective action and larger community efforts to address these issues and advocating for local government intervention.

While the Power+Place Collaborative, in partnership with the Center for Design Thinking, successfully aimed to bring awareness to these food systems, they also achieved a broader goal of increasing community engagement at a broader level. Participants and storytellers from the food and food pathways screening reportedly left the event feeling like they had a better understanding of the food systems in Alamance County, had engaged with diverse perspectives, and felt a stronger connection with the community.

This storytelling initiative continues this fall with a countywide screening and dinner scheduled for Dec. 1, 2026, from 5:30-7:30 PM. Interested community members can register at the following .

If you would like to view a full analysis of the Spring 2026 screening, a report is available online.

After two stimulating days of idea sharing and collaborative creation at Duke, the attendees took a shuttle bus to ������Ƶ, where the final day’s festivities began with an aerial performance by Michelle Spurlock, local business owner of Upside Aerial Arts & Fitness.

“I think it’s so cool that an educational conference is starting with circus arts,” says Spurlock. “It just feels like a special treat to be able to perform here.”

Spurlock says she wanted to focus her performance on joy, connection, and possibility, which best describes the FDHE Convening. She also hosted a partnered yoga session for the conference attendees, full of “laughter and playful connections.”

“I think Danielle’s done an incredible job organizing a lot of different modalities, a lot of different content, but all connected by this theme of human-centered design as a practice, a process, and mindset, so I’m very excited,” says Vivek Rao, co-organizer of the FDHE Convening, Associate Dean for Master’s and Professional Programs at Duke University.

The morning’s activities continued in ������Ƶ’s Innovation Hall with Danielle Lake, director of the Center for Design Thinking, sharing findings from the Center for Design Thinking’s most recent study exploring how ������Ƶ alumni continue to use design thinking processes in their post-grad careers as well as their civic and personal lives after working for the Center for Design Thinking. Not only does the study serve as a culmination of the Center’s successful work, but it also provides groundbreaking data on the long-term value of design thinking outside the “������Ƶ bubble.”

Instead of sharing the findings as just another “research presentation,” the Center for Design Thinking team created an interactive trivia game testing attendees’ knowledge in the design thinking field that they all study. Additionally, Lake invited five of the alumni interviewed for this study to join in on the dynamic presentation. These alumni included Tyson Glover ’17, Mackenzie Hahn ’20, Kait MacIntyre ’22, Emily Joss ’23, and Chase Soloman ’23.

“Actually getting a chance to go out into the real world and use some of the skills that we learned right here at ������Ƶ is a full-circle moment right now,” says Glover.

Soloman says that he has used his skills from his experience at the Center for Design Thinking in his professional, academic, and personal life, ranging from relationship management to structuring his own research.

Not only did the attendees listen to the experiences of these ������Ƶ alumni, but they playfully engaged in the overall game activity. The room was full of boisterous laughter, surprised gasps and animal noises as the guests took their animal-inspired team names to heart.

Once the prizes for the best three teams were awarded, the attendees were guided on a walk through ������Ƶ’s campus to continue the day’s activities inside the Center for Design Thinking.

Inside the Center, guests could choose to attend one of two workshops. The workshop in the main Center space focused on hands-on crafting to prompt a creative avenue to explore the design thinking process. The goal of this “Creatively Unprompted” exercise, according to the presenter, Sarah Rottenberg, executive director of the Integrated Product Design Master’s Program at the University of Pennsylvania, was to simulate idea generation without using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

One FDHE attendee, Raja Schaar, Associate Program Director and Associate Professor of Product Design at Drexel University, says she chose the “Creatively Unprompted” workshop to expand on her love of creating ideas and prototyping with her hands “to cultivate ideas and turn them into something else.”

In the next-door Maker Hub space, participants could choose to participate in the “Maker AI Challenge,” which focused on framing AI usage through a creative lens. The Director of the Maker Hub and Assistant Director of Creative Learning Technologies at ������Ƶ, Dan Reis, describes this workshop as a way for individuals to bring their ideas to life with AI working as a teammate instead of a generator.

“I’m very curious about broad-based exploration of how AI is being used in education, design, design thinking and teaching design in particular,” says Abbe Don, Interim Director of the Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity (or The Hive)at Pomona College, on why she chose the Hub’s AI workshop.

Once the two-group workshops ended, the convening concluded with a creative four-piece puzzle exercise. On the first day of the convening, participants answered four different prompts assigned to each puzzle piece. These prompts were designed to encourage participants to set intentions on the content they wanted to learn and share, as well as the connections they wanted to make and receive. Instead of keeping these pieces with them, each piece was given to other participants. On the last day, participants received all of their original puzzle pieces to reflect on whether they achieved their intentions and goals.

This activity served as an end to a convening dedicated to encouraging attendees to further their knowledge in the design thinking field through play, exploration, and connection with others. Not only was the activity a meaningful experience, but for the Center’s Danielle Lake, the overall opportunity to host the FDHE Convening was “a dream come true.”

“This year is the start of my eighth year at ������Ƶ, and since the beginning of my time here, one of our goals has been to form a deeper connection with the FDHE community,” said Lake. “I have been able to have such a good support system through this creative and fun group of people.”

“This year’s gathering, hosted by Duke University and ������Ƶ, has been such a wonderful experience, allowing this interdisciplinary group of teacher-scholars to exchange ideas and build meaningful relationships,” says Eugene Korsunskiy, Associate Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth College and Executive Director of the Future of Design in Higher Education. “I couldn’t have asked for a better convening.”

While this year’s FDHE Convening served as “a chance to show the culmination of our work here at ������Ƶ and to collaborate with our co-hosts at Duke University,” according to Lake, the Center for Design Thinking will continue to provide ������Ƶ and the surrounding Alamance County community with opportunities to create, grow and thrive through the design thinking process.

For ������Ƶ student Berenice Sanchez Rosaldo, the event marked a full-circle moment.

Berenice Sanchez Rosaldo ’29, a political science major who is in the ������Ƶ Academy and The Mac Mahon Family Scholar in the Odyssey Program, participated as a first-time presenter. She presented alongside Danielle Lake, director of the Center for Design Thinking, and Shannice Sellars, executive director of the African American Cultural Arts and History Center.

Their presentation, “Participatory Place-shaping: How Community-led Counter Storying Encourages Civic Engagement,” highlighted Sanchez Rosaldo’s work with the Center for Design Thinking. It focused on developing counter-stories that reflect participants’ communities and environments as a form of civic engagement.

Sanchez Rosaldo drew from personal experiences, including her high school, her father’s workplace, and the Dream Center — spaces she identified as influential in her development as a student, athlete and individual.

“Seeing Berenice present her story was such a proud moment,” said Melissa Chacon Villalobos, coordinator for well-being with ������Ƶ Academy. “Watching her grow from a high school freshman to a first-year student at ������Ƶ, and seeing the impact she is already making in Alamance County, is incredibly meaningful.”

Sanchez Rosaldo began this work before enrolling at ������Ƶ, first connecting with Danielle Lake while attending Alamance Burlington Early College at ACC, where she completed a summer internship with local summer camps across Alamance County, creating lesson plans for kids ages 6-12 during her junior year of High School.

She also credits ������Ƶ Academy as instrumental in shaping her college journey.
“������Ƶ Academy opened my eyes to the idea of college and created many opportunities for me,” Sanchez Rosaldo said.

Now an Odyssey Scholar, Sanchez Rosaldo continues her work with the Center for Design Thinking through the Power + Place Collaborative and by leading design thinking workshops across campus.

The Center for Design Thinking focuses on creative, structured approaches to problem-solving. Its Power + Place Collaborative works with Alamance County leaders and community members to document and share stories that reflect the county’s diverse communities.

������Ƶ Academy supports academically promising, limited-income, and first-generation students, while the Odyssey Program provides merit-based scholarships and enrichment opportunities for students with demonstrated financial need.

“What Berenice represents is exactly why ������Ƶ Academy exists – talented students who, with the right support and opportunities, go on to lead, contribute, and create change in their communities,” said Emily Wiersma, director of the ������Ƶ Academy.

Together, the ������Ƶ Academy and Odyssey Scholars Program reflect ������Ƶ’s commitment to civic engagement and to supporting students and communities in Alamance County.

For Sanchez Rosaldo, the experience also carried personal and generational significance. Her mother attended the presentation, marking a milestone as she watched her daughter present at her first conference.

Her story reflects the broader impact of ������Ƶ’s programs on students, their families, and their communities.

It also mirrors a larger, statewide commitment to civic engagement, as institutions across North Carolina continue this work through initiatives like the , which will take place in June 2026 and is hosted by North Carolina Campus Engagement. Together, these efforts highlight how experiences like the PACE conference are not just singular moments, but part of an ongoing cycle of learning, leadership and community impact.

These universities are two of many institutions that collaborate and represent FDHE, an international organization that specializes in human-centered design thinking in higher education. The organizers of the FDHE convention are committed to building a community built on exchanging new ideas about design thinking and interdisciplinary work programs.

The concluding day’s activities will be held at ������Ƶ and hosted by ������Ƶ’s Center for Design Thinking and Maker Hub. These activities will include presentations on the long-term values of design thinking, integrating artificial intelligence into the design thinking process and a closing celebration.

In preparation for this three-day-long conference, the Center has been hosting small virtual sessions every third Friday of the month since January called Forging Fridays. These sessions are hosted by various design thinking leaders who focus on emerging strategies, methods and ideas. Participants leave these workshops with strategies that make a significant impact, but are practical implementations in their professional, personal, and civic lives.

There have been four of these sessions so far, This session will feature , who specializes in integrating mechanical engineering with industrial design processes at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Li’s focus within this Forging Friday session will focus on how to identify when and what mindsets will be the most meaningful and transformative to an individual within their design thinking process.

Previous speakers for the Forging Fridays series include , , �����Ի� .

The lead-up to the FDHE convention with these Forging Fridays sessions is replacing the Center’s typical Design Forge convention. These meetings are the Center’s project on gathering design thinking educators, practitioners, and thought leaders to address a topic of interest in higher education, collaboration within the design thinking community, and establishing new opportunities for enhanced student learning.

For more information on past Design Forge topics, a full archive of the conventions since 2018 can be accessed here.

As part of the program, students at Walter Williams High School read The American Queen alongside ������Ƶ’s Center for Design Thinking and Power+Place Storytellers. Every Tuesday, the Center for Design Thinking’s Danielle Lake and student facilitators Cooper Mallor, Berenice Sanchez-Rosaldo and Tyberious Brooks facilitated discussions at these sessions.

During the discussions, the Center has been focusing on the leadership strategies and transformative actions related to the themes of oppression throughout the book. Additionally, the Center encourages students to reflect on the book’s overall content, themes and connections to real-world issues.

“Every time I go, I feel pretty excited,” Brooks said. “Getting to see them open up more, think more critically about what they’re reading, it’s really nice to see the progression in them every time we go.”

To further increase real-world connections, over eight Power+Place Storytellers and various community partners joined the weekly sessions. The goal of their participation was to offer engaging mentorship figures for students. Each individual comes to the program with a background that allows them to understand each other’s experiences and themselves in similar terms.

“‘The American Queen’ fits naturally in his core curriculum, which challenges students to examine resistance against discrimination throughout U.S. history,” said Robert Alvis, a civil literacy teacher at Walter Williams High School. “This core curriculum goal closely aligns with the Center’s goal to empower students to act as leaders in the face of oppression.”

Alvis says he hopes students “learn how to listen to someone’s opinion and respond to constructive questions” from these discussions.

Set during the Reconstruction Era, “The American Queen” focuses on the quality of life Black people had as a result of their own leadership and decisions after slavery was abolished. The book explores the complexity of freedom as something communities had to define for themselves amid ongoing hardships.

“It’s not like one day the government woke up and said slavery is abolished and everything is better now,” Alvis said.

Made possible by a $20,000 grant awarded to the Power+Place Collaborative and The Center for Design Thinking by the , Walter Williams High School Students, Center facilitators, Power+Place storytellers, and community partners were able to bring conversations about the book beyond the classroom.

The “Storying Home: Cultivating Cross-Cultural Connections through Storytelling” grant, which was awarded, aims to support civic storytelling to encourage conversations surrounding generational and cultural background differences. Through it, the book program culminated in a meaningful milestone — an opportunity to meet the author of “The American Queen” in person and engage with the wider Alamance County community at a book luncheon on April 15.

The Center is advising participants in their new , an initiative by Project Pericles that is designed to encourage universities to participate in civic engagement endeavors through multimedia projects. These storytelling projects will showcase “grassroots changemaking” that strengthens agency, builds community partnerships, and fosters democratic conversations.

The fellowship’s goals closely align with the mission of the Center and its support of the Power+Place Collaborative. Since 2018, the collaborative has worked with residents across Alamance County to collect oral history, create digital stories and examine the memories and stories of people who have shaped the community.

Lake, along with design catalysts Berenice Sanches-Rosaldo and Andrea Camo Conde, and community partner James Shields Jr., the manager of the African American Cultural Arts and History Center, helped lead the consulting workshop.

Lake, Shields, Sanches-Rosaldo and Camo Conde helped participants think through three different ways to advocate for systemic change through storytelling. These frameworks explored strategic storytelling, investigative follow-up, and activating community action. The Center advised the Project Pericles attendees to follow these methods since the Center and its Power+Place Collaborative use storytelling as a means to build trust across our community.

The Center will continue to consult Project Pericles’ Civic Story Lab Fellowship throughout the spring and summer.

In preparation, students from the Center for Design Thinking have been working alongside Power + Place storytellers to mentor youth in Robert Alvis’ Civic Literacy course at Walter Williams High School.

In addition, students from Professor Deidre Yancey’s “Leadership Theories” class have been preparing to facilitate conversations around leadership and changemaking for community attendees.

The American Queen is a North Carolina Reads 2025 pick from the North Carolina Humanities NC Center. The book is based on the true story of Louella and William Montgomery, two freed slaves who became the self-proclaimed king and queen of the Kingdom of Happy Land nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western NC.

Alamance Reads is funded by the Friends of the Alamance County Public Libraries, a nonprofit that raises money through annual book sales to support all programming initiatives, including the Zoom Pass program, the Lucky Day collection, the Seed Library, book club kits, educational resource kits and downloadable electronic content.

To help make these connections possible, the Center for Design Thinking and the Power+Place Collaborative were awarded $20,000 from the North Carolina Humanities Awards Large Project Grant. The grant, entitled “Storying Home: Cultivating Cross-Cultural Connections through Storytelling,” supports civic storytelling efforts across the county. The goals are to connect people to different ideas in their local communities and encourage a deeper understanding of the importance of conversation between different generations and backgrounds.

The Collaborative is welcoming eight new storytellers who have a significant part in providing access and education to food in the county, for this semester’s “Food & Food Pathways” series.

Assistant Teaching Professor of Environmental Science Jacob Rutz first got connected with the Power+Place Collaborative when he and professor Ryan Kirk were seeking a way to continue race equity work within food systems after they started a partnership with storyteller LaShauna Austria last year. Rutz knew the Collaborative would be the perfect place to continue that work.

“All of these stories are a window into the lived reality of different dimensions of how the food system does and does not work,” Rutz said. “Their unique, complex and messy realities give students the opportunity to look beyond a linear or uncritical theoretical framework into how the food system comes to be in people’s lives.”

Some of the storytellers this spring have kept family legacies alive through their work in the food and agricultural industry within Alamance County, which includes Austria and her son Malik Walker. Living on their family farm in Saxapahaw, the duo focuses on the historic and systematic changes of the food system in the county, raising awareness to move from charity to justice.

“LaShauna Austria is a powerhouse in the food scene in Alamance County,” Rutz said. “I have worked with her the past five years to advance a more equitable food system in Alamance county as well as support the growth of her farm, , with ������Ƶ course connections. It was fun to engage her son, Malik, in the project as well. He has his own unique story that I think should be shared.”

The Power+Place Collaborative is a partnership between ������Ƶ’s Center for Design Thinking, the African American Cultural Arts & History Museum, Burlington Parks & Recreation, Walter Williams High School and Alamance Public Libraries. Since 2018, they have with residents from diverse communities across Alamance County.

Throughout the years, the Power+Place Collaborative has looked for ways to help students and community members understand the underlying systems that impact their community every day, focusing on the stories that may not always be shared in mainstream media. Following design thinking principles of examining wicked problems, human-centred needs and action-oriented thinking, students dive deeper into the community and work through collaboration.

“Engaging with the community is hard work, but necessary, that builds so many more social skills beyond what I can teach about content in the classroom,” Rutz said. “Engaging with real people and real stories brings both the theory to life and critically examines the nuanced and chaotic realities that make up anyone’s life.”

Further engaging with food and civic leadership, the Power+Place Collaborative is partnering with the Alamance Public Libraries for a ” by Vanessa Miller.

Miller will join the Alamance County community to discuss the true story of Loella and William Montogomery, two freed slaves who became the self-proclaimed king and queen of the Kingdom of Happy Land nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western NC. Anyone is invited to join April 15 from 12 – 2 p.m. Community members, Walter Williams High School Civic Literacy class, and the ������Ƶ Food Security students will engage in conversations on community engagement with previous and current storytellers, taking into account the perspectives shared in the book.

The Power+Place Spring 2026 “Food & Food Pathways” film screening will be held May 2, 2026 at Persnickety’s Books in downtown Burlington.

The Center for Design Thinking has developed initiatives to continue the conversation about the implementation of AI in the classroom through a workshop titled “Designing for Ethical and Effective AI Usage.” This workshop aims to bridge the gap between how AI should be used by educators and how students can engage with it effectively and responsibly.

The Center supported over 110 faculty through a faculty development program designed to support next generation AI solutions. This series is “aimed to equip educators, researchers, and professionals with an in-depth understanding of design thinking principles and their critical role in developing innovative, user-centric AI solutions.”

Contributing to this global conversation, The Center for Design Thinking’s director, Danielle Lake, and Design Thinking Catalyst facilitated their “Designing for Ethical and Effective AI Usage” workshop and shared the latest research findings on its value for supporting student growth.

Lake introduced and outlined key stages of the design thinking process, particularly framing and exploring. She emphasized the importance of clearly identifying problems, taking ownership of solutions and acknowledging the influence of unconscious bias in decision-making.

Lake also encouraged participants to engage in outward exploration and research, fostering discussion and collaboration among faculty members as they shared their experiences and perspectives.

Bratić focused on the ethical implications of AI use in educational settings, addressing students’ increasing reliance on tools such as ChatGPT. She discussed how improper use of AI can lead to plagiarism and hinder learning, while also highlighting the growing demand for AI literacy in the workforce.

Bratić stressed the important role faculty play in shaping ethical AI usage and presented three tools to assist educators in teaching students how to use AI effectively. These tools include ethical usage rules, a structured prompt-building formula and the concept of “mind before machine.”

Additionally, Bratić showcased various AI applications that can support student learning, such as language development and productivity tools. She emphasized foundational principles like originality and accountability, encouraging students to engage in independent thinking before incorporating AI tools.

The session concluded with hands-on exercises that allowed faculty members to brainstorm and apply AI tools within their teaching practices, reinforcing ethical awareness, creativity and critical thinking.

Through collaboration, dialogue and hands-on application, the workshop reinforced that effective AI integration begins with informed and empowered educators. By centering ethics, creativity and critical thinking, the Center for Design Thinking is ensuring that AI becomes a tool for growth rather than a replacement for learning.

Forging Fridays, a virtual workshop series starting Jan. 30, focuses on first-hand practice with emergent relational design strategies. The goal is to explore how we can each apply these emerging strategies to your own life. In partnership with the Systematic Design Association and the Future of Design in Higher Education, this opportunity allows educators and practitioners from across the globe to meet and learn directly from acclaimed relational designers.

Sessions are scheduled for the last Friday of the month at 2 p.m. January through May and feature a different design thinking creator that will share practical, actionable strategies we can implement across our professional, personal and civic lives.

There will be five total Forging Friday speakers: Michael Osterweil, Lesley-Ann Noel, Haley Fitzpatrick, Rafe Steinhauer, and Wayne Li. Sessions will be January 30, February 27, March 27, April 24, and May 29, leading up to the FDHE conference on June 24-26, 2026. Sessions will focus on social impact, how systems shape daily lives, generative AI, and what mindsets to use during the design thinking process.

The first session will be with Michal Osterweil, one of the closing keynote speakers at Design Forge last year, with a workshop called “Slippages to Portals: A Laboratory for practicing and implementing relationally” that explores relational politics and how “slippages” can become portals.

Forging Fridays will culminate in the Future of Design in Higher Education (FDHE)  hosted at ������Ƶ and Duke University this June. FDHE is an international organization of design educators committed to building community and exchanging ideas about teaching and running programs in human-centered design in higher education.

The Center for Design Thinking invites anyone interested to register and learn more on our website.