Timothy J. McNeil is a professor of design and director/curator of the UC Davis Design Museum at the University of California, Davis, where he teaches the next generation of exhibition design thinkers and practitioners. He developed and authored the exhibition design curriculum in the department of design and serves as the primary instructor for undergraduate courses on exhibition design and environmental graphic design and is a thesis advisor for graduate students researching exhibition related design theory, criticism, and practice. McNeil¿s writing and creative work researches exhibition design history and the methods that define exhibition and experience design practice.

McNeil has 30 years of professional design experience. He is a principal with Muniz/McNeil a multi-disciplinary design and award-winning research practice. Recent projects include the 60,000 sq. ft. Manetti Shrem Museum of Art on the UC Davis campus which opened in November 2016. McNeil spent 15 years as a senior designer at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles developing over 70 exhibition, signage and interpretive environments for the new Getty Center (opened 1997) and the renovation of the Getty Villa (opened 2006). McNeil co-founded Re-envisioning Exhibition Design, an international initiative/lab to advance exhibition and experiential design understanding, elevate professional practice, and create a design-centric forum for debate, analysis, future collaboration and exchange. He has co-curated an international series of summits called Chaos at the Museum which convened over 500 thought leaders, strategists and practitioners from all sides of the exhibition spectrum representing the USA, Asia, Latin America and Europe to address and inform the evolving exhibition design discipline.