Professor Beth Coleman named KMDI Director

Beth Coleman has been appointed director of the Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI) for a two-year term starting July 1, 2024. Coleman is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology and holds a graduate faculty appointment at the Faculty of Information. She brings extensive academic and administrative experience to this role and will help enhance KMDI’s research impact, increase its cross-sector engagement, and raise the institute’s profile.

Coleman envisions KMDI as a hub of critical design research, serving the Faculty of Information, the broader University community, and an international network of collaborators.

With its broad mandate—design and its relation to information and media—KMDI can support diverse methods and research foci beyond the existing ones,” Coleman writes. “The mission, in collaboration with KMDI researchers, is to develop an institute that works dynamically across methods, modalities of ‘making,’ and research subjects. To enhance KMDI’s role, my approach includes framing a strategic plan to support focused and thriving research teams, research clusters, and a knowledge mobilization team to communicate important work … In essence, KMDI has the potential to function as a research beacon, advancing diverse interests in design and knowledge media in their broadest and most impactful scope.”

Among other things, Coleman was the Founding Director of the University of Toronto Black Research Network (2021–2023), She created a strategic plan, a mission statement, successfully organized grant-winning interdisciplinary research groups, raised funds, and developed a robust research network, leading a staff of four and a budget of almost one million dollars. She currently directs the Human-Machine Learning Trust working group at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society and recently co-hosted the successful What Now? AI, a new podcast that attempts to explore and demystify recent advances in artificial intelligence.

“I am confident that KMDI will be under strong leadership with Dr. Coleman in charge and I am looking forward to seeing the ambitious plans for the future of KMDI come to fruition,” said Dean Javed Mostafa in announcing the new appointment. “Please join me in congratulating Dr. Coleman and thanking Professor M.E. Luka for the outstanding job she has done as the interim director of KMDI this past year.”