Global
Tasoulla Hadjiyanni
Dr. Tasoulla Hadjiyanni’s global engagements are grounded in local and global interconnections—one does not have to get on a plane to experience questions around global justice. As a refugee from Cyprus, she advocates for built environments where everyone can thrive, using her platform to decolonize interior design education and bring the stories of refugee and immigrant communities to the foreground of design education, scholarship, practice, and policy.
Hadjiyanni advances knowledge on design and displacement through her books “The making of a refugee – Children adopting refugee identity in Cyprus” and “The right to home – Exploring how space, culture, and identity intersect with disparities,” which draws from Hmong, Somali, Mexicans, Ojibwe, and African Americans in Minnesota. Reaching a broader audience, her TEDx Minneapolis talk has over 35,000 views. More recently, she edited a virtual Journal of Interior Design Special Issue to inform an international student competition on supportive refugee housing. Currently, she is serving as Curator for Kontea’s Memorial for the Killed and Missing in Cyprus.
Empowering educators and students as change-agents, Hadjiyanni employs innovative pedagogies. In DES 4165-5165 Design and Globalization, she uses digital storytelling to strengthen student engagement with immigrant communities in the Twin Cities. Close to 80 stories have now become part of The Mapping Resilience Project, an online resource that provides a new lens through which to view the Greater MSP region. Her commitment to nurturing students’ advocacy for global justice spans beyond her regular teaching responsibilities, such as fusing the logo and website designs for Kontea’s Memorial into graphic design courses.
Hadjiyanni also partners with institutions and anti-trafficking organizations around the world through When Places Speak, a global photography exhibit that serves as a forum for places caught in trafficking to tell their story, featuring cities in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.