Eliana Kertzner

This is a photo of me and the other women on the executive board of the UO chapter of the Industrial Designers Society of America. One of the things we are most passionate about is supporting women and other marginalized groups feel empowered in design, and we took a photo together to celebrate that. I am the person all the way to the right!

Degree: BFA in Product Design

Expected Graduation Date: Spring 2024

2022-2023 Scholarship
Michael and Stacy Koehn Award

I Am Originally From Portland, Oregon, United States of America

WHY I CAME TO THE UO AND HOW I CHOSE MY MAJOR
I chose the University of Oregon because of the beautiful nature around it, the strong community, the opportunities granted to students, and because of the generous scholarships I was awarded.  My favorite thing about the College of Design is the incredible community that I’ve found of creative and supportive people.

I chose the Product Design major because of the wide array of skills it involves, and the opportunity to learn and apply those skills almost immediately. I also appreciated the balance of creativity, hard work, professional development, and community building that the major allows for.

UNIQUE QUALITIES I BRING TO MY STUDIES
I am a seamstress, and have sewn for over a decade. I’ve also worked as an instructor and tutor in various different subjects. These unique sets of skills help me assist my peers in improving their own sewing skills, and I’ve enjoyed seeing them become more comfortable with sewing because of the support I can offer them.

MY INFLUENTIAL PROFESSORS
Hale Selek has been the most influential professor I have had in the Product Design program. Her unwavering support for students and her ability to communicate her high expectations means that throughout her classes, I experience a uniquely challenging and yet highly supportive environment. She is an expert in creating a classroom environment that is wholly committed to their studies, and pushes students to be both engaged and enthusiastic. I’ve learned persistence, focus, and outside-the-box thinking from her, and I feel incredibly lucky.

MY EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
I am involved in the Dance program at the UO, which helps me get in touch with my body and has brought me to another incredible community of people who are creative in a different way. This pushes me outside my comfort zone and is a great way to learn and exercise throughout my week. I’m a Freshman Iinterrest Group (FIG) assistant for the new Product Design First Year Interest Groups, and I’m so excited about the opportunity to meet the freshman and introduce them to this incredible program.  We’ve already had a great time beginning to get to know each other, and I hope it continues to be as great. I’m also a Student Outreach Coordinator for the UO chapter of the IDSA, the affiliated club for Product Design. I use this as a way to connect with people who have completely different skill sets from mine, and I’ve helped a lot of people learn about this club and find their way into it, which has also been a wonderful experience.

MY GREATEST LEARNING EXPERIENCE AT UO
The PD 302 class with Hale Selek has been my greatest learning experience. She pushed my peers and me to go far beyond the usual quality of work and time commitment we might otherwise put into a class, and helped us forge bonds and form higher quality work habits. My work ethic is improved, I’ve strengthened as a designer, and I feel more confident relying on my peers.

AFTER GRADUATION
My education here in the Collge of Design is essential for building the skills I will use post-graduation. I hope to be working alongside other designers, either as a business owner myself or as part of another studio. My greatest hope is to be creating sustainable designs and integrating recycled materials and environmentally friendly practices into whatever we make, and using our design opportunities to make both design communities and the world at large a healthier, more inclusive place.

YOUR GIFT
This scholarship has helped my design partner Tamara Alarcon Basurto and I develop and produce sustainable weatherproof bags for students here in the Pacific Northwest. It has allowed us to fund materials, production time, and promotional materials, and even support other creatives as we enlist them to help us with our project. We are so excited to continue working on these together and begin seeing these bags used on the UO campus.

Thank you so much for your support! It truly means the world for us to be able to start working on our dream even as we continue learning. It enriches our educational experience to be able to immediately apply what we’re learning in class (sketching, prototyping, product testing) to our work and share it with the community at large. We could not do it without you and we appreciate it so much.