Don is a Professor of Drama and Arts Management at Carnegie Mellon. Dr. Marinelli served as the Assistant Head of the Drama Dept. (1980-86) and later the Associate Dept. Head (1986-95). During that time he helped to establish the joint-degree Master of Fine Arts in Acting Program between Carnegie Mellon and the world renowned Moscow Art Theatre School of Russia. Professor Marinelli has led an effort to develop innovative, interdisciplinary curricula in the area of drama and interactive multimedia.

Most recently, he has accepted an appointment as a researcher in the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science, devoting his energies to the Informedia Project, applying dramatic and cinemagraphic theory to multimedia interface and application design.