Meet AIU Faculty/Staff

Racquel Gabuya
BFA Visual Communication - Full-Time faculty and BFA Program Chair
Phone: 1-877-701-3800 ext.16773
Email: racquel.gabuya@aiuonline.edu

Meet Racquel Gabuya: Setting Students up for Success

Racquel Gabuya gets to help AIU Online BFA students in two different ways: as a full-time faculty member and as the BFA Program Chair.

"Whether I'm teaching or working as program chair, I'm working towards achieving the objective of the BFA program: to send students out with the skills employers in the field most need."

Gabuya says each assignment and each class within the BFA degree are directed toward achieving this objective. Everything ties together. "Assignments and classes build on each other and culminate with BFA students being able to illustrate, design print, web, multimedia and animation, and have a professional portfolio to show by the time they graduate."

Not only does every assignment and class work together, but, within each there are several different ways of reaching students. "AIU Online offers the ability to learn every course in so many different ways—through books, presentations, discussions boards, chat sessions. We offer everything a student would find at a ground campus and then more because these things aren't available 24/7 at a ground campus. At AIU Online everything is always available."

"Our program is pretty intense. It is almost like a design boot camp. We are not handing out a useless degree. We're not just about teaching either; what we aim for is to help students develop a professional portfolio they can use after graduation to show prospective employers and clients. Competition for jobs in Visual Communication is pretty tough. The more skills you have and the stronger your portfolio is, the more chances you have to get a better job."

Gabuya and the rest of the BFA faculty aren't just guessing at what it takes to get a good job in the visual communication field. Even though a full-time faculty member and program chair, Gabuya makes sure to have time to do freelance and consulting work in design. So does the rest of the AIU Online BFA faculty. "My own design work keeps me current on industry trends and keeps my skills fresh. Design is one of those things that if you're not doing it, your skills can fade. Of course I don't want that to happen."

Like many of her students at AIU Online, Gabuya didn't immediately fall into visual communication. "I always loved art and design, but I went through several careers before I got to where I am now." After finally getting her design degrees—a BFA and an MFA—Gabuya worked as an in-house designer and then opened her own design firm.

From her own design work, Gabuya knows creativity is important. "I try to teach students to think outside the box. What makes a better designer is their ability to create and conceive new ideas. I ask students to think of how they can better approach their target audience. AIU's curriculum focuses on technical skills, but I want my students to develop creativity and conceptual skills on top of that. I want to do whatever I can to help students succeed."

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