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Mountaintop Campus Building C is pictured amid the snow on Monday, Feb. 2. Building C is primarily home to design, architecture, and classes for other creative disciplines. (Griffin Sawyer\/B&W Staff)<\/p>\nIn her first semester last fall as a professor in Lehigh\u2019s architecture and design department, Mallory Kimmel brought her ideas to life both inside and outside the classroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kimmel\u2019s career path was anything but linear. She entered college thinking she would become an animal conservationist. Her interest in science never disappeared, but she said studying art and design in college offered\u00a0 a way to engage with issues such as climate change without the barriers of technical language.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kimmel fuses science and art, working to make imagination a reality through the 3D Design Labs on Mountaintop. Since arriving at Lehigh, she\u2019s built a classroom environment centered on experimentation, collaboration and accessibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can think about it, I want students to find a way to make it real,\u201d Kimmel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her courses emphasize hands-on learning alongside conceptual thinking. Students move from early projects, such as creating chipboard replicas of everyday objects, to more complex projects involving laser cutting, woodshop fabrication and speculative design.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One final project, called the \u201cFuture Artifact,\u201d asks students to imagine an object that doesn\u2019t currently exist but might decades from now.<\/p>\n
For many students, Kimmel\u2019s teaching style stands out for how encouraging and approachable it feels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meritt Reynolds, \u201828, was a student in Kimmel\u2019s 3D class last semester. She said Kimmel\u2019s incredibly passionate and that her enthusiasm transfers to her students. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe pushes us creatively, but in a way that feels inspiring from both her work and attitude,\u201d Reynolds said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reynolds also emphasized how accommodating Kimmel is outside of class and said she\u2019s willing to discuss ideas, give feedback and engage with topics that most excite students.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mountaintop Campus Building C is pictured amid the snow on Monday, Feb. 2. Building C is primarily home to design, architecture, and classes for other creative disciplines. (Griffin Sawyer\/B&W Staff)<\/p>\n
Bentzi Finegold, \u201828, said Kimmel\u2019s investment in her students goes beyond coursework.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said Kimmel\u2019s openness creates a classroom community where students feel comfortable asking questions and taking creative risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s very invested in us as students and as emerging professionals,\u201d Finegold said. \u201cIt feels like she\u2019s genuinely on our side.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kimmel said fostering a welcoming community ensures her classroom environment encourages collaboration. She views the studio as a shared space where students not only learn from her, but from one another.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThese students are peers for life,\u201d Kimmel said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to leave here and work in the same industries, so building that studio community really matters.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kimmels\u2019 students are restricted from using headphones while working in class, which has led to them to sing together and form a bond within the design studio.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She works closely with staff in the 3D Design Labs, ensuring students learn safe practices while gaining confidence with professional tools.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kimmel is also involved in other campus initiatives, including the Finals Fuel event on Mountaintop, which offers students food, space and support during finals week. While not directly tied to her courses, the event reflects her devotion to students, even during stressful times.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the core of Kimmel\u2019s teaching philosophy is the belief that strong design is about communication, not just aesthetics. Kimmel said she believes if a student\u2019s work is strong enough, it will have a life of its own.<\/p>\n
For students such as Reynolds and Finegold, that mindset has reshaped how they see themselves as designers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe encourages students to not limit their ideas,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cShe helps you bring crazy ideas into reality \u2014 and leave with something you get a lot of satisfaction out of.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In her first semester last fall as a professor in Lehigh\u2019s architecture and design department, Mallory Kimmel brought…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4818,119,121,120,9362,9728],"class_list":{"0":"post-104168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-2-minute-read","9":"tag-allentown","10":"tag-allentown-headlines","11":"tag-allentown-news","12":"tag-campus-life","13":"tag-profile"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}