RJ Thompson is the Associate Director of Student Engagement in the College of Business Administration at the University of Pittsburgh. He is a former tenured Assistant Professor of Graphic + Interactive Design in the Department of Art at Youngstown State University. In 2015, he was one of several recipients of the National Endowment for the Arts “Our Town” grant, valued at $100,000, for the INPLACE (“Innovative Plan for Leveraging Arts & Community Engagement”) project. In 2017, RJ received a “Best of MarkeB)ting Award” from the Ohio Economic Development Association for his efforts in rebranding the City of Youngstown, Ohio. RJ was accepted into the prestigious Cohort 2 of the National Arts Marketing Project, a program supported by Americans for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. RJ also received a scholarship to join the National Arts Strategies Executive Program in Arts & Culture Strategy through the School of Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2019, RJ was honored with the Ohio Governors Award in the Arts in Community Development, the state of Ohio’s highest recognition in the arts sector. During the academic year, RJ is an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh and Point Park University. Outside of teaching, RJ is the Creative Strategist of +Public, a design and communications research company.