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Haig David-West, Ph.D.

Haig David-West, Ph.D.

Department Chair and Professor

  • Phone: (260) 481-6709
  • Office: Visual Arts VA213
  • Email: davidh@ipfw.edu

  • Web Page:

Haig David-West obtained a Ph.D. degree in Art Education from New York University after submitting a dissertation on Russian influence on the Bauhaus. He also holds a Master's degree in Graphic Design from The University of Wisconsin at Madison, a Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design and Illustration from Ahmadu Bello University, and undertook additional graduate design studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland.

He has taught at College of Education in Port Harcourt, where he also served as Dean of the School of Arts and Chair of the Department of Fine and Applied Arts. Relocating in New York City, he taught Graphic Design History at Fashion Institute of Technology, ran his own design firm, and directed the graphic design program at Norwalk Community-Technical College in Connecticut.

Prior to his current position at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, David-West chaired the Department of Arts and Philosophy at Miami Dade College in Florida. He had earlier served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Art at Eastern New Mexico University and of the Department of Visual Arts at Chowan University in North Carolina where he also directed Runnels Gallery and Green Hall Gallery respectively, in addition to curating several national juried exhibitions.

He is a past vice president and regional coordinator of the International Council of Graphic Design Associations. He has served on the international jury at the Biennale of Graphic Design in Brno, Czech Republic and as a commissioned recommender at the International Design Awards in Osaka, Japan; participated in graphic design biennales in Poland, Finland, Iraq, and Czech Republic; presented papers at several international conferences including an intervention at a United Nations intergovernmental conference on communication policies; and contributed to scholarly journals on art and design.  He is profiled in Men of Achievement (Cambridge) and Contemporary Designers (Macmillan). Presently, David-West is researching the expression of indigenous African iconography in contemporary Afro-Cuban art and design.  During a recent stay in Havana, Cuba, he documented conversations with Afro-Cuban art historians, artists, filmmakers, museum curators, and Santeria priests and priestesses.

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