Joanna D’Avanzo is a Professional Lecturer and Chair of the Communication Department at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY where she teaches the creative side of advertising. She came to Marist to lead their creative advertising program and has worked with colleagues to help students create breakthrough, award-winning work. Her student's work has been recognized with Young Ones awards through The One Club for Creativity and district placements at the National Student Advertising Competition sponsored by the American Advertising Federation. She began her career as a passionate assistant art director the day after she graduated college and she now instills that same passion into her students. In Joanna’s initial year at Marist, she held the first Marist College Portfolio Review in NYC, which continues each year with graduates going to top ad agencies, including R/GA, FCB, Ogilvy, Grey, McCann, mcgarrybowen, and Badger & Winters.

Before academia came calling, Joanna spent time at big NYC agencies including McCann, DMB&B, JWT and Grey, where she worked her way up to Creative Director creating campaigns for a wide range of clients including Burger King, Hasbro Games, Panasonic, Gatorade and Smucker’s. Joanna’s 20 plus years in advertising has given her a depth of knowledge to pull from and relate to; she has hands-on knowledge of where her students are headed, what's in store for them and helps them prepare to get there. Joanna gives her students the advice to “Know A Little About A lot” and she takes that advice to heart which enables her to never stop learning. She loves a good typeface, finds great pleasure in helping her students explore their creativity and enjoys learning from her 3 teenage sons; they help her stay relevant in today’s ever-changing culture.

Joanna graduated from FIT with a BFA in Advertising Design and she studied graphic design at the London College of Communication. She has been involved in higher education since 2010; she has also taught at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She is a 3 time Young Ones Juror and is featured in Pat Peduto’s new book titled “I wrote the book on Advertising”. She looks forward to teaching her students all she knows about advertising.