Molly Wright Steenson

Timeline

1. 1994–1999

   Early web work and Maxi

   She begins working on the web in 1994, with companies including Reuters, Scient, Netscape and Razorfish. From 1997 to 1999, she co-creates Maxi, a pop culture feminist webzine.

2. 2003–2015

   Teaching in Ivrea and Madison

   In 2003–2004, she is a professor at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea in Italy, where she leads the Connected Communities research group. She teaches in the Media Design Practices Program at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena as an adjunct professor from 2010 to 2012. From 2013 to 2015, she is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she teaches data visualization and digital studies and leads Mellon-funded projects in the digital humanities.

3. 2014

   A Princeton doctorate in architecture

   She completes a PhD in architecture at Princeton University in 2014, with a dissertation on Christopher Alexander, Cedric Price, Nicholas Negroponte and MIT's Architecture Machine Group. She also holds a master's in environmental design from the Yale School of Architecture and a BA in German from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

4. 2015

   Joining CMU's School of Design

   She joins the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University in 2015, with a courtesy appointment in the School of Architecture. Her research there examines the past and present implications of AI and computation on design and architecture.

5. 2017–2019

   Architectural Intelligence at MIT Press

   MIT Press publishes Architectural Intelligence: How Designers and Architects Created the Digital Landscape in December 2017. The book follows Christopher Alexander, Richard Saul Wurman, Cedric Price, and Nicholas Negroponte with the MIT Architecture Machine Group, who brought cybernetics and artificial intelligence into their work in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2019, she co-edits Bauhaus Futures with Laura Forlano and Mike Ananny, also for MIT Press.

6. 2018

   A K&L Gates professorship

   In 2018, she becomes the first recipient of the K&L Gates Career Development Professorship in Ethics and Computational Technologies at Carnegie Mellon, a post that lets the university continue its work on the ethical, social and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence. The College of Fine Arts also appoints her senior associate dean for research in 2018.

7. 2021–2023

   Vice Provost for Faculty

   Carnegie Mellon appoints her Vice Provost for Faculty effective July 2021, with oversight of recruitment, retention, reappointment, tenure and promotion. In that role, she continues the Salary Equity Study and, with the Faculty Senate, moves forward a phased retirement option for teaching-track faculty. She steps down at the end of her term in June 2023.

8. Since 2023

   Leading the American Swedish Institute

   In July 2023, she joins the American Swedish Institute, an arts and cultural organization in Minneapolis, as president and CEO after leaving Carnegie Mellon, succeeding Bruce Karstadt, who had led ASI for more than 30 years. Originally from St. Paul, she grew up visiting ASI and is also Honorary Consul for Sweden for Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa, and Nebraska. ASI puts on 450 unique programs a year, and in November 2025 she announces its 2026 exhibition season as president and CEO.