First-Year Experience Faculty

Arma Zeqiri, Lead Housekeeper, received the September 2025 MIAD Values Recognition Award at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD). Arma’s nominations highlighted her embodiment of MIAD’s Core Values, especially Kindness and Community.

When senior Carmen Briones’ mother was diagnosed with breast cancer during Briones’ sophomore year at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD), finding a bra that was comfortable with a medical port became an additional challenge. Briones ’26 (Product Design) answered that challenge in her Design for Human Interface class by designing a product that reduces pain while increasing mobility.

When she first got the internship offer from Squishmallows at Jazwares, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) senior Melody Frias ’26 (Communication Design and Illustration) thought she was in shock. Months after the internship concluded, Frias still reads that email when she needs a boost.

Visiting author and artist Faythe Levine is motivated by reimagining archives and collections through a queer feminist lens. She presents “Queer Investigation & Storytelling in the Archive: MIAD Foremothers Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink,” based on her many-year research process for her fourth book, “As Ever, Miriam” (2024).