Bryce Conti class of BS ’17 and MS ’19
Having studied at Clemson University for around six years I have encountered several different types of faculty who teach Graphic Communications. Each has their own passion and knowledge of which they hope to share with their students of a variety of topics, including printing, digital media, color. Dr. Chang fits right into our Graphic Communications family and is one who expresses a passion in the printing industry and shares her excitement for industry workflow and the constant change within the industry with her students.
Before coming to Clemson, Dr. Chang was working at the Rochester Institute of Technology specifically within the School of Media Sciences. She found an interest in teaching at Clemson University because of our “vibrant” Graphic Communications program and wanting to be a part of education the future leaders of the industry. She started in August of 2018 and has spent the semester shadowing a few classes, as well as leading a graduate level class that I am participating in Printing Industry Operations (GC8110). This upcoming semester (Spring 2019) she will be co-instructing Inks and Substrates lectures and labs (GC3460) with Dr. O’Hara, as well as introducing a new special topics course of 3D Printing Workflow lectures and labs (GC4900/6900). Dr. Chang is hoping to learn from everyone around her every day and stay current with developing trends in the graphic communications industry.
As mentioned earlier, I had the privilege of being in Dr. Chang’s first class, where we were researching different assets within the workflow of a GC industry company. During the first class, I was greeted by this glowing and welcoming personality. My classmates had told her that I was the president of the graduate student body, so she proceeded to call me “the boss” for the first month of the semester. For the class, we visited eleven different companies over the semester varying in the types of services and products they produce. These trips would begin early in the morning before the sun had risen, and Dr. Chang would already be in a great mood. She would poke fun at the fact that I am not a morning person and joke around that I should be diagnosed as chronically nocturnal. When we would arrive at the various companies, Dr. Chang would be like a kid in a candy store. Her hunger for learning as much as she can about both the industry as well as the various printing methods inspired my classmates and me to engage even more in this area of the industry.
As the semester is coming to a close, I asked Dr. Chang for her words of wisdom for those who are just entering the Graphic Communications program, she said: “You will perform the best and be happy if you do what you love.” She also mentioned, “Underneath that a Chinese advice: What you have decided as your career, it needs to provide a living.” I also asked her the latter for those who are about to graduate, she said: “Keep your eyes on the grand prize, take incremental steps towards it.”
Overall, I am very excited to see how Dr. Chang will continue to spread her passion and love for the graphic communications industry with future students. I think that Dr. Chang brings a different view of various topics and procedures that the Graphic Communications department.
