Instructors
Dr. Marsha Dickson (Professor and Chairperson, Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies, University of Delaware) is internationally known for her research and teaching on socially responsible practices in the apparel industry. Her research has been conducted in several countries, including China, Guatemala, India, Thailand, and Vietnam. She is founder and President of an international consortium of Educators for Socially Responsible Apparel Business, whose initial membership includes over 80 apparel and textile educators from 35 states in the United States and seven countries. Dickson is also a member of the board of directors of the Fair Labor Association, a non-governmental organization originally formed by President Clinton to address labor standards and working conditions in the apparel industry.
Dr. Suzanne Loker (Professor, Department of Fiber Science
& Apparel Design, Cornell University) has worked closely with the apparel,
textile, and footwear industry over more than thirty years of teaching
and research in higher education at Cornell University, University of
Idaho, University of Vermont, and Kansas State University. She directs
Cornell's Apparel Industry Outreach program, part of Cornell Cooperative
Extension. She has served as a consultant with New York's Garment Industry
Development Corporation and is a member of the American Association of
Apparel and Footwear's Sewn Products Resource Council; both groups focus
on cutting edge issues and technology affecting the apparel and footwear
industry. Loker also has extensive experience in developing and managing
Web-based educational sites that incorporate images, video, and a variety
of interactive activities including
instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/cuttingedge, eclips.cornell.edu, www.apparelindustry.cornell.edu, www.topstitch.cornell.edu.
instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/cuttingedge, eclips.cornell.edu, www.apparelindustry.cornell.edu, www.topstitch.cornell.edu.
Dr. Molly Eckman (Professor, Department of Design and Merchandising, Colorado State University) brings to her teaching and research insight gained from 10 years of corporate retailing experience. She has conducted research in Spain, Turkey, Indonesia, India, and Belize and served on Ph.D. students’ examination boards at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In addition, she collaborated to develop multicultural case studies through the CSU International Development Studies Enhancement project funded by the U.S. Department of Education, which was awarded a 2002-2003 Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education.
Dr. Charlotte Jirousek (Associate Professor, Department
of Textiles and Apparel, Cornell University) is an internationally known
scholar in Turkish textiles and sustainable development in the apparel
and textile industries. Jirousek has extensive experience in developing
Web-based instructional materials, including an electronic textbook and
a searchable database for the Cornell Costume Collection.
