Chair, Master of Professional Studies Programs
Associate Professor, UX Design
tpeyton@ccad.edu

Dr. Tamara Peyton moved to Columbus in 2022 to work with CCAD, where she has been tasked with developing a new UX human-centered design curriculum at the graduate and undergraduate level. She quickly took the helm of the MPS programs in September 2022. She is working on both a redesign of the Retail Design MPS curriculum and the development of the upcoming human-centered design MPS program, both slated for (re)launch in September 2023.

Dr. Peyton believes that digital tools and systems are laden with values about how we see ourselves as human beings, and how we view our future health, wellness, and potential. As a qualitative UX researcher, design thinker and ideation expert, she is invested in understanding how everyday people interact with each other in their favorite physical and digital environments, and through their favorite brands and technologies. In her approach to teaching design, she advocates for a strong focus on both human needs and business impact when designing for both digital and physical products and services. 

Prior to earning her interdisciplinary computer science degree with a focus on human-computer interaction from Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Peyton lived in Canada, where she earned her BA and MA in sociology. Before switching careers to design education, she had a decade-long career in the young UX and dot-com industry, as a business systems analyst, UX designer, and intranet services manager for a handful of major national and international corporations.
 

Education

• PhD in Information Sciences & Technology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
• M.A. in Sociology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario
• B.A. in Sociology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec