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05/23/2005
“Good Morning America” movie critic Joel Siegel to speak at Savannah College of Art and Design graduation; Honor graduates also announced
Six-time Emmy Award winner and “Good Morning America” movie critic Joel Siegel will receive an honorary doctor of humanities degree when he addresses more than 1,100 graduates at the 25th commencement ceremony of the Savannah College of Art and Design, Saturday, May 28, 9 a.m., in the Savannah Civic Center, 301 W. Oglethorpe Ave.
Siegel has been a member of the “Good Morning America” family since 1981, where his annual Oscar reports and profiles have become a tradition. He is also the entertainment critic for WABC-TV’s Eyewitness News in New York City. His special, “Joel Siegel’s Road to the Academy Awards,” has been broadcast for more than 15 years and is syndicated in more than 150 markets worldwide. He has interviewed virtually every Oscar winner over the last two decades.
In his book, “Lessons for Dylan” (PublicAffairs, 2003), Siegel shares all the things he wants his son to know. He recounts the many chapters of his life, from the inspirational (his path from an immigrant neighborhood to national television; his work in the civil rights movement), to the difficult (the death of his first wife; his experiences with cancer) and the lighthearted (rubbing elbows with Hollywood stars; a glossary of Yiddish words, including 29 definitions for “schmuck”).
Siegel received a Tony nomination (the only drama critic ever to receive one) for writing the book for “The First,” a Broadway musical, about legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson. Other awards include the Public Service Award from the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith for “distinguished news reporting and commitment to freedom of the press” and the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association Award for “general excellence in individual reporting.”
The 2005 valedictorian is Margaret Coughlin, who came to SCAD from New York City to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in photography. She had already earned a B.F.A. in English literature from Hunter College, spent four years in a Ph.D. program at the City University of New York Graduate Center, earned a certificate from the New York Film Academy, and had a number of photography courses already under her belt. Her academic record includes a 4.0 GPA and the distinction of being named to the Dean’s List every quarter. She attended SCAD on a National Merit Scholarship. Coughlin works in documentary photography, portraiture and self-portraiture, producing dream-like images. Her work has been shown in several college exhibitions, and she recently did studio and commercial work for the Savannah Bee Co., which specializes in gourmet honeys and honey by-products. She credits her professors with giving her encouragement and advice to help her express through her photographs what she observes in the world. Coughlin also acts as an informal mentor for other students. After graduation, she plans to remain in Savannah, which she now considers home, to continue indulging her passion for making photographs and to do freelance work.
The college has two salutatorians this year, Joanna Davidovich and Sriram Bhat. Davidovich, who is originally from Orange Park, Fla., but spent most of her youth in Atlanta, eagerly came to SCAD after a year at her local college for financial reasons. She is receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in animation, the culmination of a plan that started in seventh grade when a drawing teacher recommended SCAD. She has been on the Dean’s List every quarter, maintaining a 4.0 GPA, and she received the SCAD Combined Merit Award and the UPS Scholarship in 2004. She was president of the Classical Animation Society in 2003-04, has been a member of the SCAD Swing Club since its inception, and has acted in several senior theses for film and television students. During her final year at SCAD, she has been focused on making a film — her most satisfying project to date because, she said, it “transcends the notion of working for a good grade. You work because you want to, because you need to create something.” After graduation, Davidovich plans to do freelance animation and illustration work in Atlanta, with the eventual goal of becoming an animation director and concept artist.
Bhat, who is receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in illustration with a minor in drawing, was born in Mumbai, India, but moved to Madison, Ala., a decade ago. He plans to freelance and work on a fine art show after graduation; his long-term goal is to do preproduction in the film industry. One of the highlights of Bhat’s college career was working as concept artist, texture painter and matte painter for the film “Le Vieil Homme et Les Poissons” (“The Old Man and the Fish”), written and directed as a senior project by David Bokser (B.F.A., computer art, 2004), which was widely screened at film festivals and won several awards. Bhat also worked on “The World Outside,” the senior project of Josh Lind, who is receiving a film and television degree. Bhat is devoted to taekwondo; he holds a third-degree black belt, was the 2003 Georgia state champion in the black belt division, and designed several logos for the Madison TaeKwonDo Center in Alabama. He is also president and founder of Life Force, the SCAD figure drawing and sketch club, and has been a member of the college’s Portrait Society, Society of Illustrators and Conceptual Sculpture Club. In the classroom, Bhat’s philosophy and poetry courses were crucial in helping him create personally fulfilling work, and he credits his life drawing classes for teaching him “the most important skills any artist should have.” He has been on the Dean’s List all four years, maintaining a 4.0 GPA. He was also awarded a student scholarship by the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles and was SCAD Outstanding Junior of the Year in 2004.
Excelsus laureate Christiawan Lie has wanted to be a comic book artist since he was a 13-year-old boy in Solo, Indonesia. But because there were no sequential art programs in his country and also because his parents feared that a career in sequential art would lead to life as a “starving artist,” he pursued architecture, his second love, at the Bandung Institute of Technology, where he graduated cum laude in 1997. Following graduation from ITB, Lie continued to nurture his passion for sequential art, forming a comics studio with five friends and producing more than 40 titles. He supported himself working on the side as an architect, graphic designer and art director for various companies with the intention of saving money to study sequential art at SCAD. While in Asia, Lie won two awards from AXN-Asia (Asia’s first 24-hour cable and satellite TV channel dedicated to action and adventure programming) for original comics he created that focused on environmental issues. He also received a one-year contract with MTV to represent young talent in Asia. Armed with ability and experience, but not satisfied with his skills, Lie applied for and won a Fulbright Scholarship and realized his dream to study sequential art at SCAD, where he has maintained a 4.0 GPA. Lie credits SCAD for improving his thinking processes, honing his technical skills and preparing him for the comics industry. For the last six months, while completing his studies, Lie has freelanced for Devil’s Due Publishing in Chicago and Archie Comics Publishing in New York City, producing such comics as “G.I. Joe: Arashikage Showdown” and the new “Josie and the Pussycats” manga series. Lie plans to continue to freelance in the United States after graduation.
This year, students will launch environmentally friendly vessels on Friday, May 27, 4:30 p.m., in Waving Girl Park on River Street. “PASSages, 2005” is an experiment involving the design and building of the vessels to be launched in the Savannah River the day before graduation. Graduating students can attach messages to the forms made by non-graduating students, faculty and staff that reflect upon where they’ve been and where they hope to go.
NOTE: Media who plan to cover the graduation ceremonies should come by 9 a.m. through the Montgomery Street entrance to the Civic Center to be escorted to the media area. For more information, call 912.525.5225. On Saturday, May 28, call 912.713.3534.
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