Rate My Professor Marie Lee

Marie Lee is Professor, Department Chair, and Media Arts and Production Director in the Department of Art, Media, Performance and Design at the University of the Pacific. She holds an MFA in Graphic Design from Colorado State University (2005), a BFA in Graphic Design from Colorado State University (2002), and a BA in Advertising from Michigan State University (2000). Her professional trajectory at the University of the Pacific spans from Assistant Professor (2009–2015), Associate Professor (2015–present), to her current full professorship. Prior appointments include Instructor II at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong (2007–2009), and Visiting Assistant Professor in Communications Design at Metropolitan State College of Denver (2005–2007).

Lee's academic interests lie in community-based design and public interest design, emphasizing collaboration with communities to address specific needs through design solutions that extend beyond aesthetics to broader societal impact. A prominent example is her work on the Kam Minority Heritage Project in Dimen Village, China, which led to the publication of Dawn of the Butterflies: Kam Women Artisans of China (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015). She has co-authored scholarly articles with Dennis O. Flynn, including “Hydraulic Metaphor: A Model of Global and Local Connectivity” (Brill, 2014), “A Restatement of the Price Theory of Monies” (Moneta, 2013), and “East Asian Trade before/after 1590s Occupation of Korea: Modeling Imports and Exports in Global Context” (Asian Review of World Histories, 2013). Among her honors are Honorable Mentions in the SEED Excellence in Public Interest Design Awards (2013, 2014) and First Prize in the design competition for the “Metamorphosis of Politics: 19th Century Monuments in Czech” exhibition (Czech National Gallery, 2013). Lee has presented solo exhibitions such as EarthDreams at Castolovice Castle (2014) and Passage at Shin Hwa Gallery, Hong Kong (2010), alongside extensive participation in group exhibitions. In her teaching, she prioritizes conceptual problem-solving, strong design principles, and fostering individual student voices.