As music filled Trustees’ Theater and the first garment hit the runway, I knew SCAD’s 2012 Fashion Show would be a night to remember. More than ever before, this year’s stunning production was genuinely collaborative, owing much to partnerships across SCAD’s panoply of academic disciplines.

True to SCAD’s mission of providing exceptional educational experiences, the SCAD Fashion Show emulates the way industry works, with students encouraged to take complete ownership of their garments. Emily Dawn Long (B.F.A. fashion and fibers student, Atlanta, GA) used the technology lab at the SCAD jewelry and objects department to fabricate gold-plated zipper pulls for her reversible sportswear, inspired by the temperate climate at SCAD Lacoste. Annabel Armstrong (B.F.A. fashion student, Milton, MA) worked with the SCAD industrial design department to laser cut leather into lacy confections for her outerwear. And hand-painted gowns by Jillian Beck (B.F.A. fashion student, Overland Park, KS) bewitched the audience during the finale.

International fashion cognoscenti offered coveted networking opportunities for SCAD students. SCAD Style Lab mentors Maggie Norris, Raul Melgoza, William Calvert, and Stephen Burrows critiqued, guided, and inspired the work of SCAD fashion students, from concept through production. Legendary runway coach J. Alexander (aka Miss J) worked with student models to obtain maximal swagger. Sebastien Perrin, sound designer to the stars, collaborated in his rhapsodic labors with Stefano Campello (B.F.A. sound design student, Miami, FL). The undisputed king of runway photography, Dan Lecca, united with four SCAD alumni to capture the fleeting magic.

Other fashion luminaries visited the SCAD community to gain fresh inspiration. The university was touched by actual royalty when Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis of Germany alighted to witness the work of the future generation of sartorial game changers. Perhaps Harold Koda, curator in charge of the Met’s Costume Institute, was scouting innovative perspectives for his museum’s canonical exhibitions. And Robin Givhan, tastemaker and Pulitzer-Prize winning style critic, hosted a conversation between iconic SCAD supporter André Leon Talley and honored guest Ralph Rucci.

A singular figure in American couture, Ralph was in Savannah to receive the 2012 André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award. When he accepted his award, I was delighted to hear him praise the warmth and unparalleled caliber of the SCAD community. After the Fashion Show, he used the opportunity to pay it forward, as awestruck SCAD students engaged in informative tête-à-têtes with the world-renowned designer in SCAD’s Magnolia Hall. Students from across SCAD’s academic programs can learn from Ralph’s deliberate details and ingenuity in design at the must-see exhibition, Looking Back to the Future: Ralph Rucci Evolved, on display at the SCAD Museum of Art until September.

From the wow-worthy set design by SCAD alumnus Andrew Ondrejcak (B.F.A. performing arts, 2002) to each flawless seam, stitch, and sashay, the evening was, triumphantly, SCAD magic.

I’m looking forward to next year already!

Paula Wallace

Last week, I traveled to New York for the 2012 Étoile Awards, where SCAD supporters convened at a warm, friendly dinner. The special occasion at a downtown gallery was hosted by SCAD to fete longtime SCAD supporter Mark Brashear, CEO of Hugo Boss, Americas.

Mark and Hugo Boss have been dear friends to SCAD since 2005, and the Hugo Boss-SCAD alliance has enriched the SCAD community beyond measure. Hugo Boss’s many contributions to SCAD include a $100,000 scholarship endowment, a collaborative project with SCAD advertising design, a craze-inducing annual sample sale, and, this year, title sponsorship of the annual SCAD Fashion Show in Savannah and SCAD Seen Gala in Atlanta. And this inspiring tradition of stewardship owes much to Mark’s leadership and vision.

The evening was a celebration of art and style in one of our most vibrant American cities, and style icons came out in droves to support the SCAD-Hugo Boss partnership. From Fern Mallis and Pamela Fiori (both in stunning green jackets) to the legendary André Leon Talley, fashion cogoscenti joined together to honor Mark and to get a preview of this season’s freshest fashion and accessory designs from SCAD students. The next day, I learned, Mark would be off to China, André to the Met Costume Institute Gala, and our other stylish guests off to their next artful adventure. For a few hours, though, we mingled together beneath iconic Warhol photographs…the setting, the student fashions, and the company producing an infinity of connections and intersections.

What I’ll remember most about Étoile 2012 is the respect Mark has cultivated among his coworkers, who absolutely revere his honesty and integrity. Mark himself has said of fashion that he “still doesn’t consider it work.” That’s what SCAD students strive toward, too – the palpable joy that accompanies a life of loving what you do.

Paula Wallace

During a recent trip to New York, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting the Freight + Volume gallery in Chelsea for a guided tour with superhero SCAD alumnus Michael Scoggins.

Michael walked me through his dynamic exhibition, “Us Against Them,” a stunningly smart show, which draws on the aesthetics of comic books and other childhood memories to push artistic discourse forward. To use the appropriate parlance, his work really packs a POW!

All SCAD students can learn from Michael’s imagination and integrity – extraordinary powers we strive to imbue in our student artists. It’s been rewarding for me to witness Michael’s practice evolve, even as his themes of politics, memory, and popular culture remain consistent.

While Michael’s work does inspire flight, no cape is necessary for SCAD Hong Kong students, who can view his exhibition “Superheroes,” presently on display at the Moot Gallery throughout the Spring.

Paula Wallace

At SCAD, the new year is already off to a groundbreaking start. Industry bellwether DesignIntelligence has ranked both SCAD’s undergraduate and graduate programs in interior design #1 in the 2012 edition of Best Architecture and Design Schools.  This double victory is historic for DesignIntelligence, too, marking the first time in the rankings’ history that both top honors were awarded to one university.

And as they say, good news tends to come in threes: in the same issue, SCAD interior design professor and internship coordinator Margo Jones was named one of the top 25 educators in the US. Margo is a born educator and a true SCAD ambassador, and I’m ecstatic to see her receive the recognition she deserves.

Last week, I gathered with interior design students and students to celebrate our trio of achievements at the newly expanded SCAD Museum of Art. We waved foam #1 fingers and snapped group photos, inspired by the words of Vice President for Academic Services Gokhan Ozaysin. “Here is your 20-second pitch,” he said. “When people ask what SCAD’s interior design program is like, you can tell them it’s the best in the country, times two.”

Near the end of the reception, senior Tara Headley from Barbados captured the moment perfectly. “I’ve received the best possible education at SCAD, and now I get to graduate knowing we’re number one. It’s awesome!”

Awesome, indeed. According to Jim Cramer, founding editor and publisher of DesignIntelligence, SCAD students are able to “tackle complex and difficult work, create and share knowledge, and invent new design solutions. These will be our future leaders.”

One thing is for sure – wherever SCAD leads, the creative professions are sure to follow. Congratulations to SCAD interior design chair Khoi Vo, SCAD faculty throughout the university, and the extraordinary students who work together each day to advance the SCAD tradition of excellence.

Paula Wallace

At SCAD, community service is in our DNA – part and parcel of our students’ education and a way of honoring Savannah, a city we’ve called home for more than three decades.

Several times each year, the SCAD Buzz Bus travels to local elementary schools to deliver art supplies and books. One of my favorite stops comes in December, when SCAD’s Secret Santa program delivers Christmas cheer to children at Savannah’s Union Mission. Now in its 17th season, this event has become a beloved holiday tradition for the entire SCAD community. This year, more students, faculty, and staff than ever before volunteered to gather gifts and participate in the Secret Santa Toy Drop.

The atmosphere positively bubbled with joy as we boarded the bus. We donned our most festive apparel, and even Art T. Bee managed to fit a Santa hat between his antennae.

After we arrived, SCAD volunteers formed an assembly line that Santa’s elves would envy, passing along soccer balls, skateboards, bicycles, princess castles, toy trucks, and boards games until gifts filled the mission’s lobby. Waiting there were Amire and his sister Bren’nijah (pictured above), Reynolda, Rashad, Armania, and Jalyn – all wide-eyed and beaming as the presents streamed in.

For the children – and for us – the true spirit of Christmas lived.

Paula Wallace

Walking among the ebullient crowd on Open Studio Night, one couldn’t help but recall the vibrant spirit of New York’s Chelsea neighborhood in the 1950s, when the post-war proliferation of galleries introduced a new generation of patrons to emerging, forward-thinking artists, creating entirely new works of art for a new world.

As a viewer and a collector, there’s something invigorating about encountering artists near the beginning of their careers. Open Studio Night highlights those formative moments when up-and-coming artists are immersed in experimentation and erudition. After chatting with several artists exhibiting that evening, I spent time talking with award-winning painter Joshua Lynn (pictured above), who earned a BFA from SCAD in 2003, and is now working toward an MFA in painting with an oeuvre of vivid geometric landscapes. If the past is precedent, he has a bright future ahead.

Some of the shining stars in today’s contemporary arts universe found their initial audiences at SCAD’s Open Studio Night. I recall in the mid-1990s wondering at the complexity of Monica Cook’s lush paintings. Since then, Monica has explored photography and animation, and recently showed mixed-media video art at the Guggenheim’s YouTube Play exhibition.

In 1998, Marcus Kenney’s thought-provoking collages sparked collectors’ interests at Open Studio Night, and now his paintings and sculptures are commissioned all over the world and have appeared in Art in America and CNN.com.

Then, there’s Michael Scoggins, who began using oversized notebook pages as his canvas while still an MFA candidate in 2006. His signature paintings are now part of the MOMA’s permanent collection.

These alumni began their professional artistic journeys here, at SCAD, and for many, that journey began at Open Studio Night. Those few hours of interaction and encouragement sparked within them the confidence to share their gifts with a wider world. I have seen this magical moment play out countless times in the lives of SCAD students, and I look forward to seeing it happen again and again.

Paula Wallace

In the 33 years since SCAD’s founding, I have seen Savannah transformed by the university and by our extraordinarily talented students. The city’s size affords a certain intimacy, and the entrepreneurial air here is quite unlike any other I’ve encountered. It’s no wonder, then, that when SCAD alumni start businesses, many choose to do so in Savannah – where their artistic aspirations sprang to full bloom.

One of my favorite shops in Savannah is Satchel, founded by SCAD alumna Elizabeth Seeger. Elizabeth knew what she wanted to do long before she arrived in Savannah – her mother and sister run an upholstery shop in New Orleans, and Elizabeth has fond childhood memories of collecting fabric scraps to transform into purses and wallets. At SCAD, she enrolled in the fashion design program and filled her schedule with fibers and accessory design electives, expanding her talents and working toward her dream of becoming a handbag designer.

Upon her SCAD graduation in 2005, Elizabeth moved to Los Angeles and began to work with a manufacturer to produce her designs. Within months, she found herself longing for the autonomy of running her own operation, and she missed her native South. Armed with invaluable experience and a determined spirit, she moved back to Savannah, and Satchel was born.

Initially, Elizabeth carried three handbag lines by outside vendors and did custom work on the side. Even then, she says, she aspired to one day make everything in the shop by hand. By Satchel’s second anniversary, she had achieved her goal: every bag sold by Satchel is designed, cut, and assembled on-site by Elizabeth and her three employees – all SCAD fibers and fashion alumni!

Even with a bustling shop on her hands, Elizabeth remains as connected to SCAD as ever. In Fall 2010, she initiated a partnership with SCAD printmaking professor Jill Kinnear, visiting Jill’s Introduction to Screen Printing course to work with students on original designs. To date, Satchel has produced beach bags and smaller gift items made from SCAD student-designed fabric, often integrating signature Satchel elements like leather handles and duck cloth.

Now in its fifth year, Satchel is the highlight of the Broughton Street west corridor. The shop’s classic bags, constructed primarily from leather and kilim, are as functional as they are beautiful, winning devotees near and far: the bag pictured on Elizabeth’s lap in the photo below is featured in the November 2011 issue of Lucky magazine. And the artist herself? She’s living her dream.

Paula Wallace

For years, I have looked at the ruins along Turner Street and imagined.  For years, I have dreamed of a place where perceived boundaries between art and design disciplines dissolve.  For years, we have perfected the design, and watched a historic structure transform.  Well, the SCAD Museum of Art has finally arrived.

I’d love to share a few initial reactions to the museum from within our SCAD family:

“Simply, the place is poetry, a deep and resonant ode to everything SCAD is. The models and blue prints, those hard-working renderings that we’ve seen over the past few years – nothing could convey the museum’s brilliance, the way it moves you through itself, the way the interior passageways breathe through and with you, the incredible size of the space (vast, wide, deep, high), the intimacy of it.  The student and faculty event on Wednesday was simply the biggest and most electric SCAD event I’ve ever seen.  I saw my students taking pictures, mouths agape, eyes wide, practically running through the space, propelled by an energy that seemed wholly new.”
- Dr. Harrison Key, SCAD Chair of Liberal Arts.

“More like SCAD Planet of Art.”
- from the  SCAD Museum of Art twitter feed.

“The SCAD Museum of Art is a study in tempo and textural shifts.  The patterns of light and shadow, all types of materials and ever moving vistas rivet. […] There’s so much to see.  I won’t describe all the clever and well-executed twists and turns; you will have to visit yourself. […] In my life, I’ve not been more moved by ART!”
- Katherine Sandoz, SCAD alumna and brilliant artist who wrote a post about the museum in her blog, which you can read here.

“I just stood in the Walter O. Evans Gallery and wept. I’ll have to come back to take it all in.”
- Bradley Bowers, SCAD graduate student in Furniture Design.

“If music is a metaphor of architecture, then the SCAD museum’s clean lines, grace and utility make it a symphony for the ages.”
- P.J. Johnson, Vice President for SCAD Atlanta

Paula Wallace

Keeping in touch with SCAD alumni is truly one of the best parts of my job as president. I think of our graduates as torchbearers, carrying the university’s legacy forth and bringing the magic of SCAD to new communities all over the world. That’s certainly what SCAD alumnus Britt Spencer did when he graduated with a BFA in illustration in 2005, then moved to Los Angeles to launch a career in children’s books.

Yet after a few years on the West Coast, Britt wanted more. He found himself at a crossroads – he could continue to pursue illustration, evolving his whimsical signature style, or he could develop an entirely new opus. A natural born adventurer, this Kentucky native journeyed back to SCAD, where he enrolled in the MFA painting program and set out for unknown territory. Nearly two years later, the humor and visual hyperbole that serve as Britt’s artistic calling card are still front and center, but he has added a few new tricks to his repertoire. The evidence: Britt’s recent thesis show featured hand-painted Russian nesting dolls, lending his folkloric style a brand new tangibility.

Of the difference between illustration and painting, Britt says the medium is the message. With illustration, he says, he begins with “an objective, something to communicate to an audience.” His painting, on the other hand, has become an object lesson in how not to communicate in a straightforward way – how to provide “red herrings” to disguise and redirect a viewer toward personal sources of meaning. Britt considers the two art forms so divergent that he refers to his paintings as “counterillustrations,” experimental and deliberate attempts to challenge an audience.

His artistic objectives notwithstanding, some things remain crystal clear: Britt is an extraordinarily gifted SCAD alumnus, and his work – by turns playful and somber, mythic and familiar – has only just begun its ascent.

Paula Wallace

SCAD Atlanta opened its doors yesterday to the preeminent and prolific producer Mike Medavoy. Over lunch in the Digital Media Center, I asked Mr. Medavoy to share a few secrets of his success. Here’s what he had to say:

1.    Make a list. 
Upon graduating from UCLA with a degree in history, Mr. Medavoy made a list of every big name in the film business. Over the course of a few years, he met every single person on that list, checking them off name by name. With some of the people, Mr. Medavoy said, it took years to actually sit down with them face-to-face. Others, for one reason or another, were more willing to spare a few minutes for a determined and curious post-graduate.

2.    Become a better writer.
Writing, he said, is vital to every industry. And, in film, the ability to communicate effectively and efficiently is particularly significant. Too often writers don’t understand their audience, grasp their market or fully convey their subject matter. Great writing, across genres, requires a mastery of all three elements.

3.    Never stop learning.
According to Mr. Medavoy, the ultimate key to success is a love of learning. To rise to the top of your field, you must possess an insatiable curiosity for your discipline. To stay relevant, you must expand your knowledge to areas outside your niche, developing a panoramic insight that informs and distinguishes your work.  “If you want to be successful,” he shared, “you must constantly learn new things.”

I challenge all members of our SCAD family to follow Mr. Medavoy’s lead:  list, write and learn your way to the top!

Paula Wallace

While in New York recently, I visited with SCAD alumnus Colin Tunstall (B.F.A., graphic design and photography, 2003) at Saturdays Surf NYC, his celebrated surf shop in SoHo. A surf shop in New York City? This seemingly incongruous duo – surfing and the city – are right at home at Saturdays, where Colin and his two partners have created a paean to surfing’s rich cultural legacy in America. The space that Colin has curated is both sophisticated and welcoming. Once a cluttered and labyrinthine curiosities shop, the revitalized space now welcomes visitors with wide plank floors, hand-hewn shelves and 19th century rafters overhead – a pitch-perfect backdrop for Saturdays’ surfboards, apparel and accessories. I was delighted to see how far Colin’s ingenuity and uncompromising commitment have taken him: with J.Crew collaborations and Tokyo pop-up shops under way, Colin has become an arbiter of cool.

Although he has called New York home for more than half a decade, Colin was quite clear about the continued influence that SCAD has on his life: “So many of my SCAD friends moved to New York with me after graduation,” he said. “There’s a tight SCAD community here, and it has been a joy to see everyone’s work grow stronger.” In fact, Colin’s former SCAD roommate recently established a design studio just up the block from Saturdays. The two share a quick espresso from Saturdays’ much-vaunted coffee bar every morning.

My time with Colin confirmed what we at SCAD already know to be true: the SCAD spirit isn’t confined to any campus or city; it lives in the hearts, minds and incredible talents of the artists and designers who begin their journey at the world’s premier university for the arts: SCAD.

Paula Wallace

Last Friday as I strolled through the Art Smarts student exhibition at the Savannah Arts Academy, I was completely taken by one particular painting that captured the vibrating color and frenetic energy of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the graffiti-inspired, mixed-media artist. Someone not even out of middle school had captured his essence so perfectly. I leaned in close to read the young artist’s name – Gray Fruisen – and then it struck me. Of course Gray would produce engaging imagery; he’s the son of two gifted SCAD alumni! A passion for art is, at times, inherited from one generation to the next. At SCAD we open our doors wide to all generations of aspiring artists, innovators, designers and ideators to give them a place to let their imaginations soar, and we continually strengthen this creative legacy through SCAD Summer Programs.

Get smart

For local school children, SCAD teams with the Savannah Arts Academy and Esther F. Garrison School of Performing and Visual Arts in Savannah, and the Galloway School in Atlanta to host Art Smarts, a summer camp where children get creative. They can choose classes in drawing and painting, computer graphics, fashion design, dance or performance.

I had the pleasure of attending this year’s final Savannah showcase where time warp was the overarching theme. Campers time-traveled through the 20th century, creating hundreds of works that ranged from psychedelic posters to cardboard boom boxes (remember those?) to papier-mâché-and-paint Rubix cubes. In the auditorium, young fashion enthusiasts strutted their designs down the runway, dancers in poodle skirts rocked around the clock, and aspiring actors sang and danced in the rain. It was so energizing to see how Art Smarts 2011 connected the campers of today with inspirations from the past, carrying a creative legacy forward.

Seeing stars

Later that evening, the joy at SCAD’s River Club was palpable as parents and their students, from whom they had been separated for five weeks, roamed the gallery of student art created as part of SCAD’s Rising Star program. Intricate still lifes in pastels explored space and form. Architectural drawings showed futuristic flair. Mannequins displayed fashionable threads. Widescreen monitors showcased engaging short films and dynamic video games.

Rising Star is SCAD’s residential summer art and design program that attracts talented rising high school seniors from as far as Tanzania, India, China and Alaska. In the process of drawing, painting, designing, sewing, filming and writing under the tutelage of SCAD professors, Rising Star students earn college credit, gain confidence in their artistic capabilities and form long-lasting friendships. More than 80 percent of Rising Star students return to SCAD for their university education.

The artwork at the River Club represented the culmination of intensive immersion in a college-level arts experience – an experience unrivaled for aspiring artists and designers. The pieces displayed the students’ capacity to engage, charm and challenge the viewers – a result of being called upon themselves by SCAD professors to reach deeper for inspiration.

As I walked around, I overheard one of our SCAD professors encourage a Rising Star to submit his production to student film competitions and festivals. I also witnessed a father, stunned in front of his daughter’s inspired suit, expressing genuine pride in her obvious talent. His comment brought to mind Whoopi Goldberg’s expressive appreciation of parents for supporting their student’s artistic talents during her 2011 SCAD commencement address.

Just before I headed out into the steamy Savannah night with my family, I watched three young women pose for a photo before our Class of 2016 blackboard wall – a backdrop near the entrance for these potential SCAD students to leave a message or to have their moment in the spotlight captured by a photographer. Their effervescent smiles said it all: they had come to SCAD to pursue a singular passion for art, and they were leaving with a lifeline to perpetual creative inspiration. As they signed their names in bright swirls of chalk, I wondered which one would lead fashion in a new direction like Marc Jacobs, or shake up the art world like Warhol, or invent something as wholly revolutionary as Steve Jobs’ iPad? Although I don’t know what their futures hold, I’m certain their experience at SCAD was transformational, and that I’ll see the names of these shooting stars again.

Paula Wallace

During my recent visit to SCAD Lacoste, I went on a rugged tour of Maison Basse, a vernacular French farmhouse, or mas, under extreme renovation. Maison Basse is nestled in the valley below the village of Lacoste, a vantage point that provides unparalleled panoramas of the Luberon, extending across fields of lavender and reaching up to Bonnieux, Ménerbes and other quaint, quintessential hill-top villages. Archeological evidence attests that the history of the area stretches back to Paleolithic times, and SCAD historic preservation students and professors have found that the site itself dates to the late Roman period. (Ruins of a Roman wall are still visible along the sides of certain buildings.)

The original and largest section of the farmhouse, built in the 16th century, contains 28 rooms, a barn, a hayloft and a large bread oven around which village people congregated weekly to bake bread. As demand for space grew over the centuries, so did the building, sprawling laterally with several renovations and expansions, additions and adaptations. This early form of adaptive reuse is quite common for rural French structures.

Toward the end of the 18th century, the farmhouse was transformed into an aristocratic hoteliere and illicit gambling house by the infamously libertine Marquis de Sade, who had inherited Lacoste’s hilltop chateau. But as the French Revolution spilled across France and rioters pillaged many aristocratic homes, the Marquis was forced to sell. Over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the mas passed through several hands and, again, saw many additions, alterations and spatial transformations.

When SCAD acquired Maison Basse in 2002, it was in utter uninhabitable disrepair. The building needed a new life, a new purpose, a renaissance. For the past five years, the mas has undergone massive, massive renovation – without a doubt, it’s the largest renovation SCAD Lacoste has undertaken, and truly worth the time and effort. In the fall of 2012, upon completion, Maison Basse will provide ample housing as well as studio and classroom space, allowing us to invite even more SCAD students to learn abroad.

I look forward to the day – and it’s not so far off – when SCAD students, living and creating at Maison Basse, revive its spirit. Their art will animate the restored plaster walls, their innovative ideas will reverberate from the rescued vaulted ceilings. SCAD students will compose the modern-day Maison Basse story, and I can’t wait to see the next chapter.

Paula Wallace

The first week of June is an especially poignant time for me, as SCAD sends ingenious, inventive and hard working graduates into the world. As I mentioned in my remarks to the SCAD Class of 2011, SCAD is truly a global, borderless family of artists and designers, each possessing a unique personal story, yet all drawn to SCAD because of a shared passion for art and design, for a world where imagination reigns and anything is possible. These qualities are evident throughout the year, in student projects and exhibitions that span campuses, in classroom discussions over Skype, in collaborations with companies around the globe. SCAD’s diverse culture is magnified during commencement time, when we reflect on the year’s milestones, hear from our outstanding graduates, listen to the cheers of family and friends, and see the joy on the faces of the entire graduating class. Of course, this year’s commencement speaker, the peerless Whoopi Goldberg, helped make those smiles wider still.Getting Whoopi to SCAD Hong Kong, SCAD Savannah and SCAD Atlanta in three days would have required more logistical planning than a G-8 summit. The first graduates of SCAD Hong Kong didn’t mind, though. SCAD students are pioneers, and those in Hong Kong are intrepid and daring souls who, as part of the initial class of SCAD Hong Kong, helped shape and define the campus for future generations of students. I was overjoyed to add the two SCAD Hong Kong graduates seen here to the international family of SCAD alumni on June 2. Their commencement marked another historical moment for SCAD.

One day later, in Savannah, I hosted a luncheon for outstanding graduates at SCAD’s Gryphon Tea Room. In the presence of SCAD Trustees, staff, faculty, friends and family, SCAD Savannah Salutatorian Lauren Lenart and Presidential Medalist Amy Paige Condon shared the many ways a SCAD education has transformed their lives. Their heartfelt stories brought tears to many eyes, including mine. A similar scene unfolded at SCAD Atlanta, where Salutatorian Morgan Alexander touched everyone with his journey as a nontraditional student in the painting and sculpture programs.

Finally, June 4 arrived … the day that students and their families had long awaited. I watched as 1,700 graduates, alive with the anticipation of receiving their degrees, streamed into the Savannah Civic Center, some as early as 7:30 a.m. They adjusted their caps and gowns, sought out friends, and positioned their families in the perfect viewing spot. The ceremony started. I spoke to students about their borderless ambition and the boundless promise of things to come, sentiments echoed in the speeches of SCAD Savannah Valedictorian Keia Barua of Mumbai, India, and SCAD Savannah Excelsus Laureate Ben Frisch of Williamsburg, Virginia. Then, Whoopi came to the podium. All was quiet. She amazed and delighted as she expounded on her own artistic travels and detailed the ways in which performance has become her language, a way for her to express herself and communicate with the world. Always be you. Don’t let anyone make you into a sheep. Sheep just follow, she told graduates, encouraging them to be true to themselves.

As the applause died down, SCAD honored Whoopi with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, and degrees were conferred on the SCAD Class of 2011. Shortly after, I headed north to preside over commencement activities for SCAD Atlanta. With the sun still burning bright at 6 p.m., nearly 350 students and their families filled the Georgia World Congress Center to hear about SCAD Atlanta Valedictorian Georgia Kloss and SCAD Atlanta Excelsus Laureate Hailey Lowe’s adventures and fulfillment at SCAD. Again, Whoopi hushed the crowd. I wish you art. I wish you creativity. And the one thing you have got to have: I wish you heart, she gently conveyed to resounding applause.

And the joy of commencement weekend at SCAD didn’t stop there. The Monday following her appearance at SCAD, Whoopi donned her cap and gown on The View, where she spoke glowingly of her time at the university. It seems she was as inspired by the graduates – by their talent and intention – as all of us at SCAD were inspired by her. You can see a clip of the show here. Whoopi’s generous spirit certainly helped make SCAD Commencement 2011 one for the books. I extend my deepest gratitude to Dr. Goldberg for making the journey to SCAD, and I offer a thousand congratulations to the SCAD Class of 2011. Go forth. Innovate. Create.

Paula Wallace

As president of SCAD, I regularly hear from students whose lives have been changed by studying at the university. Some are the first in their families to attend college. Others have won awards, gotten jobs at their dream employer, or are simply delighted to be at a university that embraces their creative vision. I relish hearing about all of these experiences.Among the most impassioned emails I receive are from students who have studied at multiple SCAD locations, students whose lives have been transformed by the charm of Savannah, the energy of Atlanta, the soul-stirring light of Lacoste, or the storied history of Hong Kong. Students like Dru Phillips and Leslie Nanne.

Prior to pursuing his graduate studies in photography at SCAD Atlanta, Dru had never been out of the country. When SCAD announced it was opening a campus in Hong Kong, Dru decided it was time to study abroad. He contacted the SCAD admission department to find out the procedure and learned that all he needed to do was fill out an off-campus program application. He didn’t need to reapply to SCAD, and his tuition would be the same. This seamless ability to travel among SCAD campuses exists for every SCAD student enrolled at every SCAD location.

Since Dru’s arrival at SCAD Hong Kong in September 2010, he has made friends with several members of the local community. He often spends afternoons in their company, sipping soymilk and explaining his work, which has changed profoundly. My whole approach to photography, from what I photograph to how I photograph to the equipment I use, has changed, he told me at the SCAD Hong Kong grand opening celebration in October 2010.

For example, Dru has learned that people in Hong Kong are less willing to be photographed with a digital camera, thinking the image will end up on the Internet. But when he heads out with his 4×5 camera, the defenses fade and people become more interested in the big black box he’s lugging around on his shoulder than in his taking their picture. He never would have changed his methods, he said, had he not gone to SCAD Hong Kong.

For SCAD Savannah illustration student Leslie Nanne, who hails from South America, SCAD Hong Kong was a revelation. She was awestruck by being able to walk out the door and see old men playing mahjong, and then go a few blocks and see the latest in tech gadgets, and then go a few more blocks and be in the middle of a nature preserve, complete with monkeys. It’s amazing that a city like Hong Kong exists, and I’m grateful that SCAD afforded me an opportunity to study here, Leslie said recently. She was inspired to attend SCAD Hong Kong after her time at SCAD Lacoste, where she toured Europe’s most renowned art museums and galleries, sketched medieval villages and made new SCAD friends.

Traveling and studying at Lacoste and Hong Kong has definitely made me a stronger, more confident artist, Leslie said. I think every SCAD student should spend at least a quarter on another campus.

I couldn’t agree more. I encourage every SCAD student to spend a quarter or two, or maybe even a year, in Savannah, Atlanta, Lacoste, Hong Kong, or online. Gain new friends, new perspectives and fresh ideas that will take your work to unimaginable heights. Especially, make entirely new sets of professional connections that will help you secure your dream job.

We have made the process as effortless as possible. You don’t need to reapply to SCAD. Simply fill out an off-campus program application and pack your bags. As one student who recently got back from SCAD Lacoste said, All you really need to do is get on the plane. Why not go?

So…why not go? There’s a new SCAD world waiting for you in Savannah, Atlanta, Lacoste, Hong Kong and online. I hope you’ll explore one or two, or maybe even all of them, and I hope you’ll share your experiences with your fellow students, with potential SCAD students, and with me. I look forward to hearing about your new SCAD adventures.

Paula Wallace

Here’s a classic SCAD story:Matt Ward, acclaimed animator and SCAD alumnus, traveled back to Savannah to address the incoming class of 2014. During his visit, he met an M.F.A. student in sequential art named Nick Kay. Nick sent along his portfolio, and Matt introduced Nick to his colleagues at Imagemovers Digital. Matt also shared Nick’s work with his circle of industry connections, using their feedback to carefully hone his portfolio. Nick has one quarter remaining at SCAD and reports that his ever-expanding connections have been incalculably helpful as he prepares to graduate this spring. These connections happen at SCAD every day.Yet a recent survey titled The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010¹ revealed that, nationwide, today’s freshmen are more stressed about finding employment than any previous generation. It’s easy to blame the lackluster economy, but the results reflect a growing gap between traditional university priorities and the job market – a gap that SCAD has long sought to bridge. At SCAD, where our mission is to prepare talented students for professional careers, you will not find starving artists. You will find thriving artists, students and alumni who are making valuable professional connections.

Still, in a planning session last year, a group of our senior administrators decided we could do even better. Our aim was to extend SCAD’s mission beyond the relatively few years our students spend on campus, to serve our students even better from their first year to their first job, and to shine the spotlight even brighter on SCAD grads when they succeed.

The proposal? We’ve merged the once separate career and alumni services departments into one: the office of career and alumni success. Our alumni will not be contacted by a fundraising office, but by a career services staff member to check in and see how SCAD’s resources can help them at every stage of their career. It’s a different way of thinking about the alumni experience, but an idea that makes perfect sense for higher education. Graduates five years out and twenty years out need different services from their university. We’re not just asking for something, we’re offering news about competitions, openings at companies for possible promotions, and more.

We’ve also developed a system that enables us to set parameters for students to track their way to securing employment, and devised a system for advisers to record every contact they have with students. These methods may not seem completely revolutionary until you consider the long-held misconception that students at art and design schools spend their days painting, sketching in parks and strolling through museums. Yes, SCAD students do all of these things, but their primary pursuits are focused toward a more concrete and tangible goal: employment. Success is measureable. Last week I sat down with Alison Hopton Davis, associate vice president for the office of career and alumni success, and a SCAD alumna herself.

PSW: Hi, Alison. How is this merge of career and alumni services advantageous to SCAD students and alumni?
AHD: Many people may not know that the employment of SCAD graduates six months after graduation is typically around 80 percent. While that’s an impressive statistic, the goal of this new department is 100 percent employment at graduation. Improved access to alumni is a major factor for this success, and students will see their career preparation accelerate through a new system of benchmarks beginning as soon as they set foot on campus. And as for alumni, they’ll have improved access to reference guides in our online resource library, workshops and networking opportunities, and advising sessions on professional development.

PSW: What’s the most unique feature of the new structure?
AHD: It’s our new Career Advising Benchmarks system, or CAB as we call it. The CAB system charts a student’s preparation each year through specified areas, emphasizing development such as marketing, career research, personal confidence and internships at the appropriate time of their academic career. It’s a continuum necessary for intelligent career development and success. This way, there’s no mystery surrounding the process, and our students feel confident and secure in their prospects.

We’ve also just launched a system that allows advisers to record every contact they have with students to better gauge and measure where their professional interests lie, and monitor their professional development. The system then enables advisers to send targeted correspondence to students or groups based on a number of variables, from majors and minors to activities and achievements. This also helps create more meaningful one-on-one sessions that can focus directly on a student’s needs.

PSW: What kind of relationships and opportunities will arise from the new office of career and alumni success?
AHD: The name of our office reflects its two critical constituents: career success for current students, and career success for alumni. By creating a natural channel for information and connections between these two groups, we’ll be able to proactively encourage SCAD students’ professional development from the very beginning through the rest of their career, including and beyond their time at SCAD.

PSW: How do you see the merge as an intuitive move for SCAD?
AHD: Joining our efforts to ensure student success and enrich alumni relations is smart growth. Given the present state of the economy and changing industry trends, a clear avenue to alumni-to their experience and to their connections-is a valuable benefit to SCAD students. And for our alumni, we plan to expand our offerings of workshops, advising sessions and networking opportunities as well. It’s a two-way street.

PSW: How have alumni responded to this new focus?
AHD: They’re delighted by it. Among other exciting opportunities, the merge allows them to play a vital role in SCAD’s process of developing new courses. Through panel discussions, departmental presentations and one-on-one conversations with students, job shadowing and mentoring, alumni convey knowledge and experience in real time, even as their own careers continue to evolve. By sharing industry trends and exploring the resulting curricular impacts, our alumni from around the world provide the eyes and ears SCAD needs to keep our graduates ahead of the curve.

¹First-year college students’ self-ratings of their emotional health dropped to record low levels in 2010, according to the CIRP Freshman Survey, UCLA’s annual survey of the nation’s entering students at four-year colleges and universities. The survey, part of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), is administered nationally by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education & Information Studies.

Paula Wallace

Savannah’s Telfair Square, one of the oldest in the city, is rich in history and steeped in stories. And last month, the square was alive with romantic readings, tales of mystery and intrigue, accounts of real-life hardships and triumphs, and more – all the oratory and literary gifts of dozens of talented authors who took part in the Fourth Annual Savannah Book Festival. Amid the leafy, sun-dappled square, writers signed books, mingled with readers and shared their thoughts beneath the welcome shade of white tents. Inside the nearby Jepson Center at the Telfair Museum of Art, authors read their works, bringing life to characters and captivating crowds. It was a fitting setting, among the thousands of sculptures and paintings with their own stories to tell.This year’s festival was especially meaningful to me, as SCAD and SCAD authors, each year, play a larger role in the weekend’s events. In a packed auditorium, SCAD professor Jonathan Raab read from his newest novel, The Second Son. SCAD M.F.A. candidate Harrison Key delivered a lively short story to a full audience, and I had the honor of presenting a few of my favorite outdoor spaces from my recent Perfect Porches book.No less inspiring was seeing literary legends gathered at the Ex-Libris tent, sponsored by the SCAD bookstore. There, sheltered from the sun and in the company of SCAD students, professors, staff and book festival guests acclaimed authors such as Tobias Wolff, Lee Smith, and Karl Marlantes signed copies of their books and inspired legions of budding writers.

Like the Savannah Book Festival, the SCAD writing department continues to grow and earn international recognition. SCAD professors and students are a notable presence in the literary world, and their talent attracts some of the most illustrious names in writing, quite literally, to our doorsteps in Savannah and Atlanta, where the Ivy Hall Writers Series has welcomed the world’s foremost names in literature.

At SCAD, art and literature are bound together in our dynamic and well-rounded B.F.A and M.F.A. writing programs that meld visual arts with the written word, because the best writing is evocative, where words leap off the page and create lasting images in the mind of the reader. Writers are just as much visual artists as painters or sculptors are; the only difference is the writer’s medium is the written word, the tool a pen and some paper (or, more likely, a laptop or an iPad).

A good story is like a cherished friend, making you smile when you’re down, providing comfort and escape, laughter and tears. And readers are always learning, even at times serendipitously. The SCAD family is full of gifted storytellers. I hope you’ll check them out, online, in person, on campus, at events like the Savannah Book Festival. You’ll surely be inspired to learn more about the vitality of our writing community and about SCAD’s epic story.

Paula Wallace

If you’ve clicked through this website, then you’ll notice what I truly enjoy most is meeting with SCAD students and alumni. I love holding chat sessions with students, visiting with students in their classrooms and at SCAD events, and receiving e-mail updates and phone calls from alumni. What makes these conversations especially meaningful is that, through the global SCAD family of employers, students, alumni, faculty and staff, professional connections often are made that lead to internships, jobs and unmatched opportunities. As a lifelong educator, my greatest joy is to nurture and watch SCAD students grow into successful creative professionals such as 2002 SCAD graduate Andrew Ondrejcak.

I was recently in New York on university business and during Fashion Week ran into Andrew, who was working on the production of the Tory Burch show. Andrew grew up in Mississippi and came to SCAD Savannah to study architecture and performing arts. Shortly after earning his degree, Andrew moved to New York to pursue a career in the arts. Over the years, he would send an occasional e-mail, telling me of his move from working at a bakery to sharing loft space with the founders of a well-known fashion label to helping noted photographer Peter Lindbergh conceptualize shoots for Italian and American Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

As Andrew’s career progressed, he soon was designing sets for fashion shows, writing, producing and directing plays, and being invited to Watermill, a renowned center for artists on Long Island, New York. While at Watermill in 2007, Andrew first met the internationally heralded performance artist Marina Abramović. Three years later, in 2010, Andrew took part in a retrospective of Marina’s work at MoMA and the two developed an abiding friendship.

When I ran into Andrew in February, he was working on a performance piece debuting at the Guggenheim later this month, and SCAD was quickly nearing the launch of our second SCAD deFINE ART. This event’s honoree: Marina Abramović. I mentioned this to Andrew … and two weeks later, he was back at SCAD, on stage at Trustees Theater, sharing his trajectory from being an undergraduate at SCAD to an accomplished professional to coming full circle to introduce his idol and friend Marina Abramović to SCAD. (Please read more about Marina and deFINE ART here.)

It was truly touching to see Andrew on the stage and know that his SCAD degree helped lead him to that moment. But that’s what we do at SCAD. We set our students and alumni down paths that lead only to success, to once-in-a-lifetime experiences and soaring careers. At SCAD, good will persists at every level – everyone, from students and alumni to staff and faculty, believes deeply in the university’s mission to prepare talented students for professional careers. So I encourage you to stay in touch, send an e-mail, make a phone call, reach out to me, to anyone in the SCAD family. Let us know what you’re up to or where you’d like to go, and like Andrew, you might find yourself at a SCAD event introducing someone as inspirational to your work, your art, as Marina has been to Andrew.

Paula Wallace

As I headed to a reception at the SCAD Student Center last Friday, the sun beamed brightly, illuminating the charm that is Savannah – quaint squares, eclectic stores and history all around. It seemed fitting, then, that the sun appeared to shine most brightly on the Student Center, where the SCAD illustration department was celebrating a historic moment.Inside were dozens of talented SCAD illustration students whose work was featured in the prestigious 49th annual Illustration West competition by the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles. SILA’s yearly illustration competition is the largest, most esteemed juried illustration competition west of New York. SCAD students participated, and in true SCAD fashion their work stood head-and-shoulders above all other submissions. Students from 21 U.S. universities submitted work, and SILA accepted seven times more entries to the competition from SCAD than from any other school.

If that wasn’t enough, SCAD students earned two of the top prizes, including the first-place Gold Award, which went to recent SCAD graduate Tran Nguyen for her magical work Our Flutter-Some Ordeal. Senior Adela Kang won the Bronze Award for her whimsical You Can Take Me In, But Please Don’t Pinch Me. After the reception, Adela was headed to Hallmark for an interview, and from what I understand, the recruiter thought she was amazing.

That’s what happens when students win awards like this. Their work – and their talent – gets noticed by some of the world’s leading companies. Student success also attracts new professional partners to the university and helps shine a national spotlight on SCAD students, alumni, professors and departments.

I am extremely proud of the SCAD illustration department, and its unprecedented showing at the Illustration West 49 competition doesn’t surprise me. I see how hard students work every day, going above and beyond in all that they do and always striving to top their last accomplishment. They never rest. And I know they are in the best hands, guided every step of the way by the nation’s most illustrious professors.

I want to extend a heartfelt thank-you to Allan Drummond, chair of the SCAD illustration department, Professor Mohamed Danawi and the entire SCAD faculty who led our students to No. 1. This is a reminder that every SCAD department is made up of individuals, of talented students, who work together to advance the mission of the university.

As the sun streamed through the centuries-old stained-glass windows of the SCAD Student Center, I overheard a student discussing her experience in the illustration department. She raved about the professors and the other students, then paused and added, It just feels like home. That’s a sentiment that honors the esprit de corps of this department better than any award ever could.  And that’s exactly what SCAD is – home to an elite cadre of award-winning artists and designers.

Paula Wallace