FASHION
Woodbury University Names New Head of Fashion Design Department
After several months of the position being vacant, Woodbury University has named Anna Leiker to be its chair of the fashion design department.
Leiker had been the interim chair since the departure of Kathryn Hagen, who was named in 2012 to lead the department.
For 17 years, Leiker was an adjunct faculty member at the school, located in Burbank, Calif., teaching courses on digital fashion design, swimwear and knitwear, advanced technical studio, and childrenswear design.
Her expertise includes fashion technology—particularly smart textiles, fashion sustainability and fashion photography. Earlier this year, she received Woodbury’s “Excellence in Teaching Award.”
“Anna is a fashion-industry professional with experience in both corporate and entrepreneurial fashion worlds—an ideal fit for the chair of fashion design,” said Sue Vessella, interim dean of the School of Media, Culture & Design. “She epitomizes so much of what makes Woodbury distinctive—a dedicated instructor with an outstanding track record in enabling student success.”
Leiker said she would like to bring elements of sustainability and wearable tech into the fundamentals of the fashion and design department’s curriculum. “The mission of the fashion design faculty is to link academic and workplace environments for the professional advancement of our students,” she said. “Fashion is a fascinating and complex phenomenon, an expression of personal attitude, a contrast of mass production and artisan movements. Creative people working in fashion anticipate and generate changes, which is why a fashion degree appeals to students with inquiring minds.”
As a fashion-industry professional, the new department chair has worked as an independent designer, a partner/exporter at Liaison Trading International, and a technical specialist at The Warnaco Company’s Olga and Speedo divisions.
Leiker earned a bachelor’s of science degree in the design and technology/apparel industry fromMoscow State University of Design and Technology. She earned her master’s of science in textile and apparel design fromCalifornia State University, Northridge, and she currently is working on a master’s of fine arts in documentary photography with a focus on fashion.
Woodbury University, founded in 1884, offers a bachelor’s of fine art in fashion design.
