KENNESAW, Ga. | Sep 26, 2025

Shuchita Mishra works at the intersection of art, education, business, and technology.

The Kennesaw State University assistant professor of illustration and sequential art comes to academia from a technology and marketing background, but couldn’t shake the artist within. Having developed a passion to tell stories with her drawings, she changed the course of her life and shifted focus to art education.

After earning a Master of Fine Arts in Comics from the California College of the Arts, Mishra completed a writer’s residency at the Writer’s House in Pittsburgh while working for the Carnegie Museum of Art, then applied for a limited-term teaching position at Kennesaw State.

Somewhat unique for an artist, Mishra also holds a Master of Business Administration degree in marketing, sales, systems and operations, as well as a Bachelor of Technology in electronics and communications. Before moving to the U.S. in 2016, she worked as a financial advisor in India and then as a language trainer in Germany. All throughout her career, she found solace in her art from the stressful day-to-day. In 2017, that changed as she got into the comics program at CCA.

 “While I was pursuing my master's degree in San Francisco, I was working as an afterschool care teacher for various schools,” said Mishra, who has also been published in The New Yorker. “At some point one of the teachers recommended that I run my own workshops based on my online portfolio. So, I sat down in the library, wrote a proposal, and I haven’t looked back since.”

Mishra’s business later evolved to become comic and animation workshops and clinics throughout the country, employing up to 10 cartoonists to teach illustration to artists of all ages with an emphasis on young children. They take place in five cities through the U.S., including Savannah and Atlanta.

In addition to teaching visual storytelling as part of KSU’s Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in comics and sequential art, Mishra offers her expertise in technology by incorporating it into her lessons.

“As a digital artist, I am constantly exploring the intersection of technology and visual storytelling,” she said. “My engineering background allows me to experiment with innovative approaches in my practice and teaching. At the same time, my business education has played a critical role in emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurship to students and creating employment for other comic artists.”

As more technology-savvy college students enroll at Kennesaw State, Geo Sipp, director of KSU’s School of Art and Design and a professor of art, saw a need for a similarly inclined instructor. Mishra’s curiosity and technological acumen made her ideal for the Robert S. Geer Family College of the Arts.

“The focus of our applied arts curriculum is on technology and workforce development; therefore, her skills with technology are undoubtedly beneficial,” he said. “She is very intellectually curious and wants to explore the possibilities of storytelling through long-form web comics. This platform doesn’t have traditional boundaries typically associated with the medium of comics. The technology allows for the mapping of visual storytelling to unfold in multiple ways simultaneously.”

Mishra’s research contains multitudes, too. She has presented at the International Conference for Graphic Novels and Comics in Belgium this year on navigating culture through food and comics. She will also present next month at the Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC) on fostering empathy and building communities through investigative journalism in comics, and she is in the final edits of her graphic novel.

“Art started as a hobby, it became my love, and now it’s something I get to do every day,” she said.

– By Dave Shelles

Photos by Darnell Wilburn Jr.

A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees to its more than 47,000 students. Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia with 11 academic colleges. The university’s vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties, and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 8 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.