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Design Thinking Sprint

karen sanzo

For those researchers building large collaborative teams for center-size proposals, Design Thinking can help with the process. We will discuss the five phases of Design Thinking and explore how one can leverage this process to engage in innovation activities with students, faculty, and other colleagues. Design Thinking can be used as an organizational change process, as well as a high-impact instructional tool. Participants will leave the session with a solid foundation about what Design Thinking is, tools in the process, and how they can apply it to pursuing center-size projects.

Please see the Agenda for times.

About Karen Sanzo

Karen Sanzo is a professor in the Darden College of Education and Professional Studies at Old Dominion University (ODU) and serves as the coordinator for the PK-12 Educational Leadership Program. Her work focuses on the areas of organizational innovation, continuous improvement, and leadership preparation and development. She began her career in education as a middle school mathematics teacher, later serving as an elementary school administrator.

Sanzo is also the director of ODU's INNOVATE Programs, which uses a design thinking framework with students, faculty, and staff to find innovative solutions to challenges. In 2019, she was awarded the University Council of Educational Administration Master Professor Award, was the 2018-2020 Provost Fellow for Design Thinking and Strategic Planning at ODU, and received the 2021 ODU Doctoral Mentoring Award. She frequently works with K-12 districts and universities to support their work in the areas of continuous improvement, organizational development and change, strategic planning and innovation.

Sanzo has also served as principal investigator for national and state-level grants totaling approximately $2.4 million dollars in the areas of school leadership, formative assessment, STEM education, and the K-12/higher education cybersecurity pipeline. Sanzo has more than 50 publications, including 33 manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals and ten published books.