Northwestern announced designer David Ngene (Weinberg ’08) will be the convocation speaker for the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences in June, according to a Weinberg news release. 

Ngene came to NU in 2003 as a first-generation college student on an athletic scholarship with the football team. The release said he initially intended to major in mechanical engineering but switched to art theory and practice after an adviser noticed Ngene’s creativity and recommended he take a course in the department. 

During his time at the University, Ngene experimented with innovative and futuristic media. He is currently senior innovator at Nike’s NXT Space Kitchen, a design team of engineers, scientists, designers and other professionals who imagine the future of Nike’s brand.

“Becoming an art theory and practice major sent me on a much better path, a more fulfilling path toward being a creator, a thought provocateur, and to imagine new possibilities and instigate change,” Ngene said in the release. 

Ngene recently launched the multidisciplinary creative incubator OOMLAB and co-founded the lifestyle brand AETLAS, which are both based in Portland, Oregon. 

He said his liberal arts education helps him to collaborate with people from a variety of fields. 

“Opportunity lives at that intersection of diverse thought and creativity,” Ngene said in the release. “It’s multi-disciplinary people who have the power to be connectors and adapt to the ever-changing world.” 

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Twitter: @KristenAxtman1

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