Kelly Salchow MacArthur is a Professor of Graphic Design at Michigan State University. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design with Honors from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design Magna Cum Laude from the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. Before joining the faculty at MSU, she was Program Head of Graphic Design and Assistant Professor at Kansas City Art Institute. Other previous teaching experiences include RISD and The College of New Jersey.
Kelly is a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission, and President Emerita of the international design organization, United Designs Alliance. She is a former member of the UCDA Design Educator's Advisory Committee, and CAA's Committee on Intellectual Property. Kelly initiated the AIGA Get Out The Vote: Empowering the Women’s Vote poster initiative to commemorate 100 years of the women’s vote in 2020. She and Nancy Skolos partnered with AIGA and the League of Women Voters, creating a collection of 65 posters from 71 women in design, which was exhibited across the country and available for free download. The campaign not only supported voter participation, but also served as a backdrop for dialogue and examination of the history of voting rights and women’s fight for equality. She served as President of the Detroit Chapter of AIGA, the professional association for design, 2009–2011—which followed five years of service as Education Director for the Detroit and Kansas City Chapters. In 2019 she received MSU’s Distinguished Partnership Award for Community-Engaged Service for her green mapping projects with Monroe County.
Her concepts and design work have appeared in several publications, including Posters for the Planet; SustainAble: A Handbook of Materials and Applications for Graphic Designers and Their Clients; Mapping the Intelligence of Artistic Work: An Explorative Guide to Making, Thinking, and Writing; Typography, Referenced: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to the Language, History, and Practice of Typography; Designing for the Greater Good: The Best in Cause-Related Marketing and Nonprofit Design; and Atomic Ranch Magazine. Kelly has presented at AIGA, European Academy of Design, International Institute for Information Design, International Design Principles and Practices, International Climate Change, International Sport and Society, College Art Association, University College Designers Association, Foundations in Art: Theory & Education, and Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design conferences. She has guest lectured at several universities. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and selected by Graphis Poster Annual, Print, Creative Quarterly, GD USA, IIID, Emirates International Poster Festival, Type Directors Club, Society of Typographic Arts, American Alliance of Museums, United Designs, AIGA Kansas City, and AIGA Detroit competitions. Her work is included in the permanent collections of The Museum of Avant-garde (Switzerland), the Japan Olympic Museum (Tokyo), The Cultural & Scientific Association Poster Collection (Dubai), United Designs Alliance Collection (South Korea), The Susan C. Harp Collection of Graphic Design (New Hampshire), and UCDA Design Collection (Tennessee).
As part of the Olympian Artists Program, she led a series of community-based collage workshops with at-risk youth in the lead up to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In 2021 she was an Olympian Artist-in-Residence for the Olympic Agora in Tokyo, Japan. Her series of 5 Noren curtains celebrating peace, joy, hope, honor, and sport hung in the Nihonbashi neighborhood during the Olympics. The University of Cincinnati established the Kelly Salchow Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sport in 2023, to be granted annually to a selected alumnus. A two-time Olympian, she balances her passion for design and education with miles of rowing on the Huron River. Raising her two children with her husband Jay has proven to be her most enlightening and challenging design project to date.