Associate Professor of Practice, Design
Gray Garmon is a designer, educator, and public scholar whose work empowers people to use design as a method and mindset for shaping a better future. He is the Founding Director of the Center for Integrated Design at The University of Texas at Austin, where he also serves as an Associate Professor of Practice in Design. Since joining UT in 2018, Garmon has developed and taught a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses, positioning design as a fundamental human ability that belongs in every discipline.
Under his leadership, the Center for Integrated Design became one of the largest undergraduate design programs in the country, helping students and professionals alike integrate design into their work, communities, and everyday lives. His teaching emphasizes five core mindsets—Collaboration, Empathy, Synthesis, Prototyping, and Storytelling—equipping learners to create meaningful, impactful work in any context.
Garmon’s design practice spans consulting, innovation, and social impact. He is co-founder of TWOxTWO, a design consultancy that helps organizations build creative capacity while advancing strategic goals. Recent work includes advising the Aga Khan Foundation on a human-centered design toolkit recognized with a Fast Company Innovation by Design Award; participating in the Buckminster Fuller Institute’s Design Science Studio; and delivering a TEDxUT Austin talk on Inciting Peace, his framework for designing a more peaceful world.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from The University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was awarded the AIA Henry Adams Medal and named a Social Impact Fellow. A former Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana and co-founder of the MA in Design and Innovation program at Southern Methodist University, Garmon’s mission is to advance design as a catalyst for systems change, creative leadership, and human flourishing.