Katie Rothfield is an award-winning educator, licensed interior designer, and champion for student success. Born and raised in midcoast Maine, she earned a BA in Clinical Psychology and a minor in Studio Art from Tufts University while taking courses at several renowned institutions, including the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Maine Media Workshops + College, and Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, Australia. Katie combined her education in creativity and systematic analysis to earn an MFA in Interior Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Graduating at the top of her class, she found passion and inspiration when exploring the deep connections between the interior environment and human psyche.

Rothfield’s professional practice experience spans over seventeen years, including more than seven years in the hospitality and high-end residential interior design industries with noted firms such as The Gettys Group and blue, a design company, inc., and as a freelance interior designer, where she expanded her practice to include the corporate and institutional sectors. While Project Manager at The Gettys Group, she was a key contributor to the revolutionary Hotel of Tomorrow™ (H.O.T.) Project, a thought leadership forum spearheaded by The Gettys Group and Hospitality Design magazine to conceptualize the future of the hospitality industry.

At Florida International University (FIU), she currently serves as the Interim Director of Career and Talent Development for the College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts (CARTA) and Associate Teaching Professor and Internship Coordinator for the Department of Interior Architecture. She facilitates the Festival of the Trees annual interior architecture scholarship fundraiser and organizes local and national field trips to design firms, trade shows, museums, and architecturally significant sites each year.  In addition, she managed the Interior Architecture Master’s Thesis Mentor Program, Super Jury + Celebration for seven years.

Katie is the creator and past chair of the highly successful FIU School of Architecture annual conference, D3E (formerly Emerge), an event that brings together design students, professionals, educators, and manufacturers’ representatives for a variety of informational sessions, portfolio and resume reviews, and cutting-edge workshops that encourage students to rethink the way they design. She also originated the FIU Interior Architecture Department’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Associate Exam Achievement Award, which reimburses students who successfully pass the exam.

Over the past decade, Katie has developed and taught a wide range of graduate and undergraduate curricula, including hospitality, experimental, and mixed-discipline studios, and courses in sustainable practices, building systems, project programming, professional practice, and personal branding. She is National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) Certified and LEED Accredited in Interior Design + Construction (ID+C). She is also a Professional Member of the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) and served as the Educational Representative for the Network of Executive Women in Hospitality (NEWH) South Florida Chapter as well as the Vice President of Forums for the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Florida Chapter.

Recent accolades include the 2017 FIU CARTA Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching, the 2016 FIU Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, the 2016 NEWH South Florida Chapter Silver Star Award, and the 2015 IIDA South Florida Chapter Educator of the Year Award. Katie is a published chapter text contributor to 100 Architects and Interior Designers, by Damir Sinovcic, and she has presented at numerous conferences.

Crediting her mother, an accomplished artist/educator, and father, a witty jack-of-all-trades, Katie values ingenuity, authenticity, humor, and grit. Never one to slow down, she dabbles in podcast production, copyediting, writing, UX and UI design, and filmmaking, and she unwinds by listening to nonfiction narrative podcasts, discovering new alternative music, and searching for vintage and antique treasures while summering with her family in Maine.

Ashley Rizzotto has worked full-time in the field of college career development since June 2017 across multiple colleges and currently works at Florida International University where she is the Career Specialist for Visual & Performing Arts in CARTA. Ashley is a native of Brooklyn, NY where she had the pleasure of attending Edward R. Murrow, an arts high school where she was selected and graduated from the inaugural theater student track. She has performed in musicals, served as an assistant director in multiple productions, and once as a stage manager while in college. Her coursework ranged in playwriting, production review, and jazz dance. Ashley attended Stony Brook University and UNC Greensboro and traveled a winding road of career paths before finding her professional home in the world of career and talent development.

Ashley has been actively involved with the Southern Association for Colleges and Employers (SoACE) as the Marketing and Communications Chair for the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, Social Media Committee, and Scholarship Committee. She is passionate about supporting students in understanding their strengths and finding creative strategies to discover their dream career.