Martha Sullivan

M.S., Architecture, Virginia Tech

Martha Sullivan is the Department Chair and an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Industrial Design program. She teaches ceramics, industrial design laboratory, Summer Academy, and other interdisciplinary courses for the Creativity + Innovation Destination Area (C+I DA). Martha is a Co-Lead for the education initiatives in the C+I DA. She also serves on the steering committee for a new CAUS Living Learning Community Rhizome, and is a Faculty Fellow in the Leadership and Social Change Residential College.

In 2013, Martha was awarded the University Certificate for Excellence in Outreach for an annual service-learning project titled Empty Bowls, and in 2010, she was awarded the College of Architecture and Urban Studies Excellence in Teaching Award. Martha has been a Visiting Scholar at Telemark University College in Notodden, Norway in 2013 and Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts in Shanghai, China in 2017 and 2019. The latter resulted in a large-scale collaborative ceramic tile installation at Fudan University’s Children’s Hospital in Shanghai. In 2006, Martha was chosen to receive the Gianninoto Graduate Scholarship from the Industrial Designers Society of America for her thesis work in Industrial Ceramics.

Martha is currently the President of the Blue Mountain School Board of Trustees, a progressive and contemplative school in Floyd, Virginia.

mlsulli@vt.edu