Jan Ballard joined TCU in August 2010 as an Instructor in the Design Department, having previously been an Adjunct Faculty member in the School of Art, in the College of Fine Arts for 25 years. She earned a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She teaches typography, corporate identity, branding, professional recognition, and the capstone class Portfolio & Marketing. Her scholarly activity focuses on typography, cross-disciplinary collaboration, community service learning, and academic/industry UI/UX partnerships for workforce readiness.
The impact of her work has been noted by case studies published in two books, Teaching Graphic Design History (Allworth Press, 2019), and Teaching Graphic Design: Course Offerings and Class Projects from the Leading Graduate and Undergraduate Programs (Allworth Press, 2017).
Ballard’s teaching effectiveness has been recognized by TCU Student Affairs, Student Development Services: Engaged Faculty Award (2022); inaugural TCU/Neeley Innovative Teachers Guild certification for TCU/Neeley Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (2021); TCU Deans’ Teaching Award (2019); District 10 American
Advertising Federation Award for Outstanding Advertising Educator (2019); Faculty of
the Year, TCU College of Fine Arts, TCU Student Government Association (2015); and TCU Wassenich Award for Mentoring (2013).
She has proudly showcased her TCU work at conferences, as she has been invited to
present at TypeCon sponsored by The Society of Typographic Aficionados (2023, 2021, 2019,
2018, 2015); Big Design UI/UX Conference (2021, 2020, 2019, 2017); The Information Architecture Conference (2020); Southeastern College Art Conference (2020); National Student Show and Conference (2023, 2019, 2017, 2015); University & College Designers Association: Design Education Summit (2018); and American Institute of Graphic Arts:
Design Educators Conference (2016)
