Before he ever started teaching them, Robert Andruchow spent many years hiring user-experience designers. A business owner who knew firsthand how difficult it was to find people with the skills to design software, websites and other digital products, he jumped at the chance to influence what a design education in the 21st century would look like.

Since 2015, the chair of the Department of Design has been working to shape the experiences of students in MacEwan’s Bachelor of Design program, which launched in 2019. 

“Opportunities to create a new degree don’t come up very often, and this was a chance to build a program that would address a significant gap in the industry,” says the 2025 Teaching Leadership Award recipient.

Filling that gap involved creating experiences for students that reflect what happens in the real world, including DESN 443: Multi-disciplinary Digital Experience Design Studio. The course teams up MacEwan design students with computer science students working on their capstone projects, and the results are impressive: everything from AI plagiarism checkers to augmented reality art sales tools.

“There's a lot of heavy lifting and moving parts in that course, but I love it,” he says. “The chaos is where so much learning happens, and it's fun to coach students through that. It’s also really impressive to see them go from concept to execution in four months.” 

Apps and websites are amazing, but hard to hang on a wall, so Andruchow fills his office with work that is less digital, but equally impressive. 

“My philosophy is that I’m here to build a fantastic program for students, and to teach students, so I felt it was important that when students come into my office, they know it’s not about me – it’s about them and celebrating their work,” he says. “I cherry-pick what I think is some great work and things I think students would like to see.”

The work featured in Andruchow’s office isn’t exclusively from students he’s taught himself – fitting for someone whose scope extends beyond his own classroom. 

Keighly Gibson’s fourth-year capstone project, for example, talks about fashion for the queer community. “It’s a real celebration and a fantastic project that was not only good for student learning, but for the community in general,” he says.

Four large-scale posters that adorn Andruchow’s walls advertise the design student portfolio shows that happen each year when students graduate. 

“These are all from 2014 to 2018 – the first four years of my time at MacEwan, and when I was heavily involved in managing the portfolio show, so they have a kind of special meaning,” he says. “I got to know these students and vividly remember working with them on these visual identities and brands for the show. They’re good memories.”

Whenever students go out of their way to say thank you, it’s particularly meaningful, says Andruchow. 

“You don’t expect students to thank you for teaching them – it’s your job, and the expectation is that you do a good one,” he says. “But I’m really proud of the thank you notes I receive from students and faculty. It’s the cherry on top of a job that I love.”

What does it mean to receive a teaching leadership award?

“It's extremely fulfilling and a huge honour,” says Andruchow. “But what I care about most is the results that we’ve been able to achieve together. We’ve tripled the size of the program, launched a degree suited to what employers need and what students want, and created a new DXD major to help the tech industry in Edmonton and Alberta. Those accomplishments are important to me and critical for what I see as success – for the program and for myself.”