A consummate businesswoman, Thérèse Hannigan successfully brought her diverse design talents, UI/UX experience, digital storytelling skills, and leadership prowess, acquired during more than 15 years as an interactive agency owner, to the higher education arena. Fueled by her core belief that learning and leadership should be empathetic and human centered, Thérèse’s 25+ year career as a gifted educator, skillful designer, accomplished problem-solver, and successful business executive has shaped her into a visionary architect of immersive, engaging experiences. She has demonstrated an impressive ability to embrace, analyze, and exceed the limitations of current thinking to create adaptive solutions to the ever-changing needs of students, clients, and employers.Hannigan’s achievements have afforded her numerous opportunities to work with and provide immersive design experiences for corporations and institutions of higher education. While continuing her independent consulting work as a designer, Thérèse’s years of constructing digital solutions for universities across the globe facilitated her ability to forge successful working relationships with deans and faculty as well as with key local workplace leaders. In bringing these talents together Thérèse has propitiously aligned RIT’s academic programs with diverse industry needs and expectations. Her management of the design and development of a diverse range of programs at RIT have enhanced the reputation and distinctive identity of the University’s portfolio.Her successes as an entrepreneur and as an educator have been propelled by her passion for building learning experiences that develop adaptable skills for future success: her goal is to teach students how to think through and solve problems, despite constant changing external variables and environments.Thérèse’s resolute goal of making education accessible for all has enabled her to deeply mine her seemingly limitless problem-solving abilities to design and develop empowering learning experiences that meet the needs of a wide range of learners. However, Thérèse does take a break from the business and academic arenas to browse rare book libraries and vintage poster collections. A lifelong denizen of New York State, she enjoys traveling to warmer climates and plays golf whenever she can. She is interested in connecting with employers, industry thought leaders, and potential learners to keep them apprised of all the new offerings and opportunities at RIT Certified.