Academy for Revolutionary Creativity in Health (ARCH)
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Meet the ARCH Team
- Maribeth Kradel-Weitzel (Director): Maribeth Kradel-Weitzel is an Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs, founding director of the Creativity Core Curriculum, founding director of ARCH: Academy for Revolutionary Creativity in Health, and Professor of Health Communication Design at Thomas Jefferson University. Kradel-Weitzel also brings her knowledge of design to medical students in her role as Associate Director of the Health Design Lab for Jefferson’s Sidney Kimmel Medical College. She recently completed a three-year term on the National Board of Directors of AIGA: The Professional Association for Design (the largest professional organization for design) and is president emeritus of AIGA Philadelphia. Kradel-Weitzel is a 2025 recipient of the Provost Award for Service to the Profession, a 2024 recipient of the Provost Award for Creative Achievement and a 2021 recipient of the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. She is a Sappi Ideas that Matter grant recipient, a JeffSmart Fellow, and has led many initiatives focused on leveraging design to improve health and equity for underserved populations.
- Jason Crook (Advisory Council): Jason Crook, MBA, is an Assistant Teaching Professor in Kanbar College. He has been a faculty member in the School of Business since 2001. Crook is an entrepreneur and industry consultant with a background in advertising, marketing research, and corporate branding. Since 2003 he has been the proprietor of an award-winning retail and eCommerce business, PHAG (Philadelphia Home Art Garden), and for more than two decades he has served as principal at his own marketing communications and strategy consultancy. He developed and coordinates Jefferson’s undergraduate minor in Entrepreneurship. Crook holds a US patent as the co-inventor of “Methods and Systems for Analyzing Marketing Effectiveness.” He currently serves as Coordinator of the college’s core course in Finding & Shaping Opportunity, is a member of the Steering Committee for Jefferson’s Creativity Core Curriculum and serves as the Coordinator of External Programs in the School of Business.
- Valerie Hanson (Advisory Council): Valerie Hanson is an Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the College of Humanities and Sciences and an Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric. She brings to ARCH her expertise in creating and designing interdisciplinary general education and major programs that address audiences from multiple disciplines, and her experience in interdisciplinary research in science, visual studies, rhetoric and pedagogy. She was a 2012 recipient of the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching; she also serves as a member of the Jefferson Institutional Review Board.
- Barbara Kimmelman (Advisory Council): Barbara Kimmelman is Dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences and Professor of History at Jefferson. She is an historian of science, technology and medicine focusing on the history of plant breeding and genetics. She has additionally researched and taught about history of race and ethnicity in the United States, about U.S. immigration history, and about the so called “technological revolutions” of the past three centuries. Barbara has also collaborated with faculty across disciplines to create successive general education programs and has collaborated with design and business faculty in the creation and teaching of the university’s innovative DEC Core Curriculum in design, engineering and business.
- Marcia Weiss (Advisory Council): Marcia Weiss is the Interim Dean of the School of Design & Engineering and Professor of Textile Design at Thomas Jefferson University. A specialist in woven design, she brings decades of industry experience to the classroom, including 19 years with Burlington Industries, culminating in her role as Vice President of Design for the House Fabrics Division. Her research interests include culturally significant textile practices in West Africa and Central Asia. An exhibited artist, Marcia has been honored to have her work displayed in Asia, Europe, and throughout North America.