Special Guest Lecture: Valerie Fletcher From the Institute for Human Centered Design at Endicott

 Beverly, MA – Recognized as a leader in the global movement of inclusive design, Valerie Fletcher, Executive Director of the Institute for Human Centered Design, will be presenting a special guest lecture to students, faculty members and the general public at Endicott College. The lecture, "The Value of Design," will focus on celebrating the benefits of interior design as well as how design shapes and impacts our everyday lives. 

Ms. Fletcher will be speaking in the Rose Performance Hall at the Walter J. Manninen Center for the Arts at Endicott College, 376 Hale Street, Beverly on Thursday, October 18, at 7:00 p.m.,  a dessert reception to follow.   This event is free and open to the public. 

Valerie Fletcher has been the Executive Director of the Institute for Human Centered Design since the beginning of 1998. Valerie currently oversees a wide range of projects including a global web-based collection of case studies of universal design in the built environment, demonstration projects for a public school and a community development initiative that pair universal design and environmental sustainability with research focused on features for people with sensory or brain-based functional issues. Fletcher lectures and writes internationally. She is the Principal Investigator for the New England ADA Center, a project of IHCD. Fletcher’s career has been divided between design and public mental health. She is the former Deputy Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health where she directed the reinvestment of $70M in institutional spending to new community programs through a landmark community planning process. She has Masters in ethics in public policy from Harvard University. The Boston Society of Architects awarded Fletcher their Woman in Design award in 2005. She lives in Boston with her husband, Mark, a sculptor and furniture designer. 

If you have any questions regarding Valerie Fletcher or any programming at Endicott College, please contact Kathleen Moore at 978-232-2655 or kmoore@endicott.edu. Our website is: www.endicott.edu/centerforthearts for additional information on future exhibits and lectures.