Sara Dean Named Michigan Impact Professor

Sara Dean, Associate Professor and Director of the Stamps Masters in Design (MDes) program, has been named a Michigan Impact Professor. Her appointment was approved by a unanimous vote by the University of Michigan Board of Regents at their November 20, 2025 meeting.

Dean’s new title comes as part of the U‑M Provost Office’s Look to Michigan Faulty Expansion Program (FEP) which ​“seeks to recruit to our campus colleagues with exceptional potential to expand capacity for transformative inquiry in high-impact areas of research/​scholarship and societal challenge. We seek to recruit mid-career tenure-track faculty who will catalyze, collaborate, and provide intellectual and institutional leadership in areas aligned with at least one of the pillars of the Look to Michigan framework.” The new designation comes with an honorarium for research funding and a five year term title of Michigan Impact Professor.

“The question of impact is intrinsic to design. For me, this focuses on questioning our current solutions and practicing new ways of living together. Engaging communities and rethinking current technologies is key to creating impact in this work,” said Dean. ​“To build the future we want, together, we need to be able to imagine it. Design is a space for prototyping tools and systems which embody collective values and new goals.”

Dean’s upcoming installation and residency in New York at Institute for Public Architecture is one such prototyping opportunity. She will be testing community infrastructure, building on her ongoing Public Things Network project, showcased last summer in Seoul, Korea. Dean says the funding will help to give her the space and encouragement to build community connections and new applications for these types of collective, ad hoc infrastructure prototypes.

Dean, a renowned designer and architect, joined the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design Stamps School of Art & Design faculty in August 2025. As part of her appointment, Dean is overseeing the relaunch of the MDes graduate program as she begins her new role as director and associate professor with tenure.

Sara is an alum of the Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning where she earned both a Master of Science in Design Research and a Master of Architecture. She is known for her research-driven practice exploring the intersection of digital technology, urban systems and community engagement. Her work focuses on civic and environmental adaptability, both in digital and physical media, with a strong commitment to open-access data and crowd-sourced production.