MIAD Values Recognition Award: Leslie Fedorchuk
Leslie Fedorchuk and Jeff Morin
Leslie Fedorchuk, Professor of Writing & Humanities and Director of Service Learning, received the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) Values Recognition Award for February 2026. Leslie received nominations that highlighted her embodiment of MIAD’s Core Values, especially Integrity, Kindness and Community.
The MIAD Values Recognition Award (VRA) celebrates faculty and staff who consistently model MIAD’s values of courage, integrity, kindness, community, innovation and inclusion. After employees nominate a colleague for the award, a committee made up of faculty, staff and previous VRA winners convenes to vote on the month’s recipient. Awardees receive a $250 prize.
One nominator said, “…Leslie cares so much about others and about community that she founded the Service Learning program at MIAD, which she continues to lead with unparalleled passion. Leslie works tirelessly to inspire in MIAD students the importance of contributing to their communities in the present and in their future lives. Her generosity is mirrored in her personal life; Leslie makes sure her friends, neighbors, and colleagues are always welcome in her home…”
Another nominator said, “Leslie is a compassionate colleague who always encourages us to move with INTEGRITY while fostering COMMUNITY throughout MIAD’s campus, but also in our personal practices. She has a keen ability to see each individual’s super power and encourages them to lean into it, as she champions us even when we forget to champion ourselves.”
“Her commitment to community-building is unprecedented: bringing MIAD into the bigger community, inviting the community to MIAD, connecting and engaging students and faculty,” says another nominator. “It has been a great experience and pleasure working with Leslie on the Gallery Committee, and an honor having her a fellow faculty member.”
Finally, an additional nominator said, “I would not be the educator I am without Leslie, and I can see her impact all over campus in our students and in my peers.”
Learn more about MIAD’s Values Recognition Award or nominate a colleague at www.miad.edu/vra.
News
Moonlight Retreat Builds Connection
Since 2018, MIAD faculty member Naomi Shersty has been creating space for artists and nonartists alike to step away from the demands of everyday life and reconnect through creativity, community and nature.
A Tribute to Horicon Works: Barany’s Mural Celebrates Products, History and Community
A new mural at John Deere’s Horicon Works is bringing the company’s history to life, and it was created by MIAD professor and alum James Barany ’92 (Drawing).
Containment Breach Selected for ICON13 Motion Commotion Screening
Parker Deutsch ’26 (Illustration – Animation Track) recently had the animated short “Containment Breach” selected for screening in Motion Commotion, part of ICON13, the Illustration Conference. The showcase features innovative animation and motion-based work from illustrators and animators across the field.
MAKE! Participants Reflect on Creativity, Community and Growth
Alicia Zapata, a second-year MAKE! participant from Chicago and a K-8 art teacher at Waters Elementary School in Chicago, IL, Kelly Wendel, an eighth-year participant and art teacher at Nicolet High School in Glendale, WI and Gail Kowsky, a second-year participant and sixth- and seventh-grade art teacher in New Brighton, Minnesota, reflected on what they gained from this year’s program.
Meet Maya Koehn and 2026 Senior Exhibition Project L’Atelier
Maya Koehn ‘26 (Interior Architecture and Design) is a President’s (Honor) List student from Sheboygan, Wis., currently employed as a Junior Designer at Direct Supply.