Rate My Professor Robert Andruchow

Robert Andruchow is the Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Design within MacEwan University’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Communications. He earned a Master of Design (M.Des.) from the University of Alberta, where he also served as a sessional instructor for 12 years prior to his full-time role at MacEwan. Drawing from his pre-academic experience as a business owner hiring user-experience designers, Andruchow identified critical industry skill shortages and has since shaped modern design education to address them. Appointed Department Chair in 2018, he led the development and 2019 launch of MacEwan’s Bachelor of Design program, expanding it threefold to become the largest Bachelor of Design between Vancouver and Toronto. He co-led Alberta’s first Digital Experience Design (DXD) major and Canada’s inaugural upskilling DXD Certificate, and spearheaded five out-of-faculty minors to meet burgeoning demands in digital design and technology sectors. From 2014 to 2018, he managed annual design student portfolio shows, fostering professional readiness.

In teaching, Andruchow emphasizes real-world application, as in DESN 443: Multi-disciplinary Digital Experience Design Studio, where students navigate complex projects—from AI plagiarism detectors to augmented reality art sales tools—over four months, progressing from concept to functional prototypes. His philosophy centers on student success, prominently displaying their achievements in his office alongside thank-you notes from alumni and peers. Andruchow received MacEwan University’s 2025 Teaching Leadership Award for exemplary contributions to teaching and learning at institutional and disciplinary levels. He serves on the Immersive Learning Institute Advisory Committee and advances design-technology policy through research and government-industry engagements. His scholarly output includes co-authoring the 2026 publication 'Integration of a digital serious video game into an online undergraduate biology laboratory: Impacts on student engagement and learning,' derived from a three-year practice-based research project creating an educational video game for biology students. Additionally, he has appeared on the 'Research recast(ed)' podcast discussing design studies and collaborations with colleagues like Dr. Isabelle Sperano.