10 Within 10 Recognition

Class of 2018, College of Education and Human Services 

As an assistant professor of fashion management and social justice at Parsons School of Design at The New School in New York, Dyese Matthews teaches at the intersection of industry, identity and equity. Her academic journey — from undergraduate student to Ph.D. to faculty member at one of the world’s leading design schools — began at CMU. 

Her scholarly work is wide-ranging and nationally recognized. She is the founder of Noire Narratives (@noirenarratives), a digital oral history project preserving everyday fashion stories across the African Diaspora. Her research has earned awards from the Costume Society of America, the International Textile and Apparel Association, and Cornell University, including the 2025 Richard Martin Exhibition Award and the 2023 Charlotte A. Jirousek Fellowship. She has also moderated public panels, including a Black History Month discussion at the Queens Public Library on African Americans and the fashion industry. 

That work extends beyond the classroom. In 2023, Dyese participated in the Black Fashion Future Exhibition at CMU — a meaningful celebration of fashion students and their achievements during Black History Month — and has returned to campus multiple times to deliver guest lectures and mentor current students. She continues to look for ways to collaborate with and give back to the university that introduced her to the field. 

At CMU, Dyese worked at the front desk of The Towers — particularly those late-night shifts, she notes, which were the most entertaining — and later served as a resident assistant for Kulhavi Hall, an experience she said she would choose again without hesitation. From that role, she developed skills in relationship-building, time management and leadership that remain foundational to how she teaches and works today. 

“Being a CMU Chippewa means having confidence in oneself and making your own path and being proud of it,” she said. For Dyese, that path runs straight through Mount Pleasant — and it has led somewhere extraordinary. 

Dyese holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts from CMU’s College of Education and Human Services, a Master of Science from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. from Cornell University.