Trudy WattAcademic Director, Master of Science in Design and Innovation

Trudy is the Academic Director for the Master of Science in Design and Innovation. Her recent work as a practicing architect, design researcher and educator focuses on applied compassion in design and cultivating programs that support transdisciplinary collaboration. She works on creative ways to build care into the design process so that everyone can access equitable thriving with support from the lived environment. Prior to joining UW–Madison, she taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson University, and Columbia GSAPP. She is the founder and a collaborator of the Living Well Initiative and co-host of the podcast, Tending Tomorrow.

Recent Publications

Watt, Trudy. Forthcoming. “Effective Interdisciplinarity is Like Alchemy.” Proceedings of the 109th Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Annual Meeting.

Watt, Trudy. 2022. “Oblique Pedagogical Strategies: Improv and Speculative Realism in Support of Social Justice Design Education.” https://doi.org/10.15763/11244/335075.

Recent Lectures

Watt, Trudy. 2021. “Designing Action with Applied Compassion.” Featured speaker at Social Good Morning hosted by Mark Fairbanks, Lubar Entrepreneurship Center, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Watt, Trudy with Isabella Cosentino and Steven Rasmussen. 2021. “Architecture and Health.” Lecture at World Affairs Seminar, University Scholars Honors Program, Milwaukee School of Engineering.