Darnel Degand

Darnel Degand has a multimodal interdisciplinary research agenda that investigates how varying notions and manifestations of progress and academic achievement can exist in a wide range of milieus (e.g., collaborative, competitive, unjust, virtual). Dr. Degand studies the various ways media and society influence the development of social success skills by exploring the social processes that exist within media production environments and media consumption experiences. His research also involves the design and development of formal, nonformal, and informal educational media products and experiences. He was a plenary speaker at the 2020 California Association of African-American Superintendents and Administrators Conference and a keynote speaker at the 2024 International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference. 

Before joining UC Davis, Professor Degand amassed nearly two decades of professional experience as an interactive media producer. A sampling of his resume includes roles as a multimedia designer at the City University of New York’s Queensborough Community College, as a game designer/developer for Sesame Workshop, and as a technical development manager for an online advertising firm acquired by Amazon.

Research Interests

Comics & Graphic Novels, Culturally Relevant Media Production, Critical Race Media Literacy, Games, Interactive Narratives, Social Success

Education

Ed.D. (2013). Instructional Technology & Media
Teachers College Columbia University

M.S. (2002). Digital Imaging & Design
New York University

B.S.E. (2000). Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics
University of Pennsylvania

Publications

Journal Articles

Degand, D.  & Jones, S. (accepted). Will the Fight for Critical Education Persist? Exploring an Afrofuturistic Possibility with Future Scenario Planning. Critical Education.

Degand, D. & Jansen, V. A. (accepted). From Stage to Page: Nic Watts’s and Sakina Karimjee’s adaptation of C. L. R. James’s Toussaint Louverture. Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society.

Degand, D. (2026). “It’s only dormant. It’s not dead.”: The evolution of Cory Thomas’ comic ‘Watch Your Head’. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 17(1), 164-188.

Degand, D. & Grier, A. (2025). ‘WAIT! Isn’t cartooning supposed to be fun?!’: Little Barbara Brandon’s earliest lessons. Studies in Comics, 15(1-2), 119-145.

Peñaloza, A. C. & Degand, D. (2024). Yo Me Llamo Cumbia: A multimodal autoethnographic analysis on the re-presentation of Cumbia’s AfroIndigenous cantautoras. Multimodality & Society 5(1), 54-75.

Degand, D. (2024). ‘Black lines on white paper’: How comic artist Barbara Brandon-Croft draws on Where [She’s] Coming From. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 15(3), 451-473.

Degand, D. (2024). “The Last Word” from The Source: André LeRoy Davis’ contributions to Hip Hop and comics. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 15(2), 317-342.

Degand, D. (2022). An arts-based inquiry-inspired rubric for assessing college students’ comic essays. Multimodality & Society, 2(4), 386-409.

Degand, D. (2022). Comics, emceeing, and graffiti: A graphic narrative about the relationship between hip-hop culture and comics culture. Studies in Comics, 12(2), 239-248.

Degand, D. (2022). Un-silenced Pasts Present in Afrofutures: The Potential of Arts-Based Inquiry and Critical Race Theory. Journal of Futures Studies. 26(3), 7–23.

Degand, D. (2022). Traditions, graffiti, identities, and the future: An interview with comic artist Dawud Osaze Kamau Anyabwile, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 13(5) 783-799.

Degand, D. (2022). Golden legacy versus trivialising tropes: An examination of The Saga of TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE and the Birth of Haiti, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 13(2), 255-269.

Degand, D. (2020). Introducing critical race media literacy in an undergraduate education course about technology and arts-based inquiry. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 22(3), 96-117.

Degand, D. (2020). Brotherman, family, & legacies: Recognizing the contributions of African American independent comic book writers and artists. The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship, 10(1), 1-21.

Degand, D. (2019). Stereotypes vs. strategies for digital media artists: The case for culturally relevant media production, Theory Into Practice, 58(4), 368-376.

Degand, D. (2015). A phenomenological multi-case study about social success skills, aspirations, and related media experiences. The Qualitative Report, 20(6), 872-900.

Additional Publications

Degand, D. (in press). When Gothic pasts meet Gothic futures: The zombi-fied and Frankensteinian android hosts of HBO’s Westworld. In J. Hawkes & A. Stratford (Eds.) Gothic Age of Television. Palgrave.

Degand, D. & Rodriguez, A. (in press). Reflections on the use of Unflattening in an Educational Leadership doctoral course. In A. Latz, A. Kantrowitz,& D. Collins (Eds.) Unfurling Unflattening. MIT Press.

Degand, D. (accepted). From Phenomenology to Portraiture. Bloomsbury Encyclopedia for Social Justice in Education. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Degand, D. (2022). “I don’t fit in anywhere”: Undergraduates’ experiences with avatars and games in an Education course. In 2022 Games + Learning + Society Conference Proceedings.

Degand, D. (2021). Tackling Stereotypes: Portrayals of Black NFL athletes on The CW’s The Game and HBO’s Ballers. In Brackett, L. (Ed), Working While Black: Essays on Television Portrayals of African American Professionals (pp. 70-79). North Carolina: McFarland Press.

Degand, D. (2017, March 1). Black Women Doctors in the World of Comics. Comics, Race, and Society series. African American Intellectual Historical Society.

Degand, D. (2013). Social success skills: Black male high school students’ perspectives on society and their media experiences (Doctoral dissertation). Teachers College, Columbia University.

Vikaros, L. & Degand, D. (2010). Moral development through social narratives and game design. In K. Schrier & D. Gibson (Eds), Ethics and Game Design: Teaching Values through Play (pp. 197-215). Hershey, PA & New York, NY: Information Science Reference.

Creative Works

Exhibits

Still … Racism in America: A Retrospective in Cartoons.  (January 24 – April 21, 2024).
UC Davis Design Museum, Davis, California
Contributions: Co-Curator

Illustrations/Designs

Reflections on the use of Unflattening in an Educational Leadership doctoral course. (In Press). 
Unfurling Unflattening.  MIT Press.
Contributions: Comic Illustrations

From Phenomenology to Portraiture. (Accepted). 
Bloomsbury Encyclopedia for Social Justice in Education.  
Contributions: Illustrated Portraits

‘WAIT! Isn’t cartooning supposed to be fun?!’: Little Barbara Brandon’s earliest lessons. (In Press)
Studies in Comics
Contributions: Comic Illustrations

Still … Racism in America: A Retrospective in Cartoons.  (January 24 – April 21, 2024).
UC Davis Design Museum, Davis, California
Contributions: Designer of exhibit’s main exterior panels

An arts-based inquiry-inspired rubric for assessing college students’ comic essays. (December 2022)
Multimodality & Society, 2(4), 386-409
Contributions: Comic Illustrations

Comics, emceeing, and graffiti: A graphic narrative about the relationship between hip-hop culture and comics culture. (November 2022)
Studies in Comics, 12(2), 239-248
Contributions: Comic Illustrations

Un-silenced pasts present in Afrofutures: The Potential of Arts-Based Inquiry and Critical Race Theory. (March 2022)
Journal of Futures Studies, 26(3), 7-23
Contributions: Comic Illustrations

Courses Taught

University of California, Davis 

Research on Response to Culturally Diverse Literature
Culturally Relevant Media Experiences & Teaching
American Society, Media, & Perspectives on Social Success
Learning in the Digital Age

Teachers College Columbia University 

Advanced Theory & Programming of Interactive Media 

Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology

Design, Drawing, & Aesthetics 
3D Animation with 3DStudio Max 
Intermediate Adobe Photoshop 
Introduction to 3DStudio Max
Introduction to Adobe Photoshop
Introduction to Flash

Funded Research

Governor’s Office of Planning & Research – California Education Learning Lab. Improving Retention in Engineering: E-Games for Active Training in Engineering Design. 2019-2022. (Co-PI, with collaborators: PI Angelique Louie (UC Davis), Co-PI Jennifer Choi (UC Davis), Co-PI Joshua McCoy (UC Davis), Co-PI Will Davis (American River College), and Co-PI Hong-Yue (Ray) Tang (CSU Sacramento). [Amount: $500,000]

Hellman Foundation. Challenging Deficit Discourses in Multimodal Arts-Based Education with Counter-Stories from Media Industry Professionals. 2021-2022. [Amount: $15,000]

University of California, Davis School of Education - Dean’s Research Excellence Award. The Social Success Mediation Framework Project: Identifying Skills and Traits that Enable Disadvantaged Individuals to Succeed. 2018-2020. [Amount: $5,000]

Awards and Honors

• UC Davis Humanities and Social Sciences Stimulating Exceptional and Essential Discovery (S.E.E.D.) Award (2024 – 2025)
• California Education Learning Lab Grant Award (2019 – 2022)
• UC Davis Hellman Fellowship Award (2020)
• Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities (CAMPSSAH) Scholar (2019)
• Dean’s Research in Excellence Award, UC Davis (2018)

Professional Academic Affiliations

American Educational Research Association (AERA)

National Art Education Association (NAEA)

Professional Experience

SIZMEK (DG/MEDIAMIND/UNICAST), New York, NY

(01/2014 – 05/2017) Technical Development Manager / Project Manager
(03/2012 – 12/2013) Scrum Master / Team Lead
(06/2009 – 03/2012) Senior Flash Engineer

SESAME WORKSHOP, New York, NY

(02/2008 – 03/2009) Flash Game Developer

CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, QUEENSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE, Bayside, NY

(05/2005 – 02/2008) Multimedia Designer / Higher Education Assistant

INSTITUTE FOR SCHOOLS OF THE FUTURE, New York, NY

(10/2003 – 03/2006) Consultant

BERLIN PRODUCTIONS, White Plains, NY

(03/2004 – 02/2005) Creative Director, Multimedia

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, New York, NY

(02/2003 – 08/2003) Graphic Design Consultant

AMC COMPUTER CORPORATION, New York, NY

(10/2000 – 05/2001) Creative Director / Application Specialist

MOBERG RESEARCH, Moberg Multimedia, Ambler, PA

(05/1999 – 12/1999) 3D Artist

AVNI PRODUCTIONS, New York, NY

(06/1999 – 12/2010) President / Multimedia Developer