Stephanie Brenton
Biography
Stephanie Brenton is a Lecturer III at the University of Michigan School of Information. She brings over 20 years of experience as a UX leader, designer, researcher, and developer. Since 2017, she has taught graduate courses in interaction and pervasive design at UMSI (including SI 582, SI 611.108, SI 612, and SI 699: User-Centered Agile Development). Before joining UMSI full time, Stephanie led UX teams and guided discovery workshops at major organizations – including serving as a Senior UX Manager at Charles Schwab—and led design projects at GE, UPS, and Bill.com. An advocate of Agile product practices, she has championed the Dual-Track Agile (continuous discovery) approach in both industry and the classroom. She also has a passion for measuring ROI of user experiences to ensure that technical applications deliver value to both users and the business.
Stephanie’s teaching blends a practitioner’s mindset with academic rigor. She combines hands-on prototyping and real-world tools with research-backed design principles, helping students bridge theory and practice. She has helped shape UMSI’s curriculum around UX, interaction design, and humane design values, emphasizing stakeholder collaboration and evidence-based solutions. Passionate about interdisciplinary teamwork, Stephanie empowers students through discovery workshops and exercises that bring designers, developers, and business stakeholders together to cooperatively solve problems. Known for her warmth and high standards, she mentors each student’s growth with individualized support while maintaining high expectations and real-world relevance. Her goal is to help students graduate with not only strong portfolios, but also the confidence and care to lead UX design that is meaningful, strategic, and deeply human.
Pronouns
she/her
Areas of interest
Design for ubiquitous applications, interaction design, UX research methods, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), agile process, UX maturity models, and accessibility
Education
MS Computer Science, Western Michigan University, BS Computer Science, Western Michigan University
