Professional Title
Teaching Associate Professor, Graphic Design
Jennifer Gordon completed a BA in Communications and a BFA certificate in design in the 1990s and worked professionally in many non-profit roles in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, before moving to Duluth to complete her MFA and begin her teaching career. She has worked as an assistant professor in Graphic Design since 2006 and was promoted in 2025 to Teaching Associate Professor.
Throughout her academic career, she has continued to connect to her profession through pro bono and freelance work and left briefly to serve as the creative director for a start-up non-profit. This opportunity allowed her to see into the current design profession and practice her own skills working on a large variety of design projects, including branding, website, exhibition and conference promotion. She brought those honed skills back to UMD when she returned in 2016. She also works on her creative work that builds on skills in illustration, writing, and bookmaking. She is currently working on research that brings together her interest in travel and global design.
She has recently received grant funding to travel to India to create a video documentary and write about the unique form of Indian design and how it has been inspired by design from the West.