Hostos Community College (CUNY) is proud to announce that Sarah Sandman, an assistant professor in the Media Design Programs, has been named a 2015 TED Fellow.

Sandman, who is in her fifth year at Hostos, will attend the TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, from March 13-20, where she will take to the stage for her “TED Talk.” These lectures have become a wildly popular and powerful way to share innovative ideas, philosophies and practices. Sandman was invited to apply in September 2014 and was told of her selection in December 2014.

Sandman is one of 21 game-changing thinkers at the forefront of their fields from 15 countries in this year’s TED class. The 2015 Fellows also include a South African physicist using lasers to target HIV and cancer; a German/Moroccan paleontologist who discovered the first semi-aquatic dinosaur, the spinosaurus; a Vietnamese entrepreneur who is helping rice farmers use biowaste to earn a living growing mushrooms.  Some more famous TED partners have included Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Bill Gates, Bono and others.

Although she is widely known at Hostos for her groundbreaking work in the Media Design Program, in particular the Hostos Design Lab, Sandman joins TED as an independent artist and designer, who describes her work as “the use of design mythologies to build community.” Some of her artistic ventures that got TED’s attention included two “Gift Cycle” projects, where Sandman and Melissa bicycled “gifts of art” during a nationwide tour in 2008. Their trek began in Providence, RI, and ended in Seattle, WA. Events were held along the way where artists brought pieces of art and exchanged them for another pieces. Sandman said she modeled Gift Cycle after the cross-cultural sharing habits of a tribe in New Guinea. Her website is filled with other “Social Practice” projects she has been working on for more than seven years.

“Gift Cycle is great example of how I like to use art to create a social experience. … What I might be most excited about being a TED Fellow, is collaborating with these other great innovators,” Sandman said.

The TED experience for Sandman will not be all about giving a TED Talk. Aside from her lecture, Sandman will attend separate TED Fellow networking and information conferences receive professional development advice and also get help publicizing her work through other TED resources.

“I am very excited about the potential ‘cross pollination of ideas’ and the possibility of working with some of these wonderful people from such different backgrounds in the future. I love the cross disciplinary nature of TED and the people it highlights,” Sandman said.

More about Sarah Sandman
Sarah Sandman is an artist and designer living in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been exhibited at The Wassaic Project in Wassaic, NY, the 2010 Open Engagement Conference in Portland, OR and the 2013 Playtime Symposium at Eyebeam in New York, NY. Sandman is also an assistant professor in the Media Design Programs at Hostos Community College (CUNY) in the South Bronx. In addition to teaching classes in typography, color theory and 2D design, Sandman serves as the co-coordinator of the Hostos Design Lab summer design intensive.

Sandman has been a visiting lecturer and critic at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Syracuse University, The Fashion Institute of Technology, and Parsons. She served on the board of FEAST from 2009-2013 (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics), a Brooklyn-based arts granting organization whose efforts have been presented at the Creative Time Living As Form exhibit and 2011 New Museum Festival of Ideas.

Sandman has also worked as a senior designer at the communications agencies Egg in Seattle, WA and Green Team in New York, NY. She is also a designer for the creative collective, One Long House. She earned her M.F.A, Graphic Design, summa cum laude, from Rhode Island School of Design and a B.F.A, Visual Communication, summa cum laude, from the University of Kansas and Fachochschule Trier, Germany.

More About TED
TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.

TED is a global community, welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world. TED believes passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world. On TED.com, the organization is building a clearinghouse of free knowledge from the world's most inspired thinkers — and a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other, both online and at TED and TEDx events around the world, all year long.

About Hostos Community College
Eugenio María de Hostos Community College is an educational agent for change that has been transforming and improving the quality of life in the South Bronx and neighboring communities since 1968. It serves as a gateway to intellectual growth and socioeconomic mobility, as well as a point of departure for lifelong learning, success in professional careers, and transfer to advanced higher education programs. The College’s unique "Student Success Coaching Unit" provides students with individualized guidance and exemplifies its emphasis on student support services.

Recently named one of the top 10 finalists for the 2015 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, Hostos offers 27 associate degree programs and two certificate programs that facilitate easy transfer to The City University of New York’s (CUNY) four-year colleges or baccalaureate studies at other institutions. The College has an award-winning Division of Continuing Education & Workforce Development that offers professional development courses and certificate-bearing workforce training programs. Hostos is part of CUNY, the nation’s leading urban public university, which serves more than 480,000 students at 24 colleges.