Supremely savvy style site Fashionista is currently assembling their annual list of the world's top fashion schools. If you're a SCAD alumnus with a degree in fashion, take a moment to make your voice heard. And if you're here familiarizing yourself with what the SCAD School of Fashion has to offer, read on.

At the undergraduate and graduate level, SCAD fashion students prepare to lead the ever-evolving world of fashion through a rigorous curriculum anchored by creative thinking and dynamic technology. Led by Michael Fink, dean for School of Fashion, and guided by professors with extensive industry experience, students explore fashion from the conceptual to the commercial, merging technical dexterity with personal vision to develop original fashion collections.
 
The SCAD School of Fashion offers degrees in accessory design, fashion, fashion marketing and management, and luxury and fashion management. SCAD offers related minors in menswear, fashion photography, fashion journalism, jewelry, fragrance marketing and management and more, allowing students to refine their focus and build expertise in their disciplines.
 
At SCAD, students converse with critics, designers, buyers and thought leaders like Imran Amed, Norma Kamali, Robin Givhan, Brandon Maxwell and Carolina Herrera who visit SCAD's global campuses to share their experience and insight. Each year, the Style Lab Mentor program affords SCAD fashion students the opportunity to interact one-on-one with established designers like Zac Posen, Catherine Malandrino, Stephen Burrows, Rachel Roy, Christian Siriano and Rafé Totengco. Students liaise with top industry professionals during signature events SCADstyle and SCAD FASHWKND, and the many unique workshops and critiques that bring fashion elite to the university.
 
In May 2017, at the inaugural SCAD FASHWKND, 43 students debuted their collections at a runway show in Savannah, held in the courtyard of the SCAD Museum of Art, featuring a recent installation by the internationally renowned Carlos Cruz-Diez. In Atlanta, the collections were displayed in tableaux vivants throughout the third floor of the university's main building. Both SCAD FASHWKND events featured a Shop The Runway retail component, where SCAD alumni shared and sold their designs.
 
In 2017, SCAD students won 20 YMA Fashion Scholarships, more than any other university in the history of the competition. SCAD graduates have won the Supima Design Competition for two consecutive years: In 2016 womenswear designer Jeffrey Taylor (B.F.A., fashion, 2016) earned the $10,000 grand prize in the 9th annual Supima Design Competition. He was invited to show his collection at Lincoln Center during NYFW, and later showed his collection during Paris Fashion Week. In 2015 SCAD alumna Kate McKenna-Schliep (B.F.A., fashion, 2015) won the Supima competition and showed her collection during Paris Fashion Week.
 
In Atlanta, SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film hosts exhibitions of work by world-renowned designers like Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera, as well as historic compendiums including “Embellished: Adornment Through the Ages” and “Shoes: Pleasure and Pain.” To elucidate the themes of each exhibition, SCAD commissions complementary films that are screened in the adjacent SCAD FASH Film Salon. Students can further their studies through the SCAD FASH permanent collection, an archive of more than 1,000 museum quality garments from designers like Oscar de la Renta, Coco Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Yves Saint Laurent, Vera Wang, and Givenchy.

Visit SCAD to learn more about the university's incomparable contributions to the world of fashion.

"Let's talk about leather," accessory design professor Michelle Quick tells the fourteen high school students gathered in Eckburg Hall on a Monday morning to begin their SCAD Summer Seminars. "Today you'll each make a functioning card wallet. By the end of the week you'll also have made a folio or clutch bag and a cross-body bag to take home." After a playful round of introductions, the students — many from out of state or overseas, and meeting for the first time – get to work.

Quick's workshop is one of approximately twenty classes offered during SCAD Summer Seminars, a series of weeklong immersive experiences for students who have completed their freshman, sophomore or junior years of high school. Students participate in two distinct workshops, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, taught by SCAD professors, alumni and select graduate students. Activities including silent discos and trips to Tybee Island deepen the impression of SCAD student life in Savannah.

"A lot of high school students have done creative assignments before like drawing and painting," Quick says, "but this is different: it's learning to be creative at the next level."

Over the course of the week, Quick's class gains proficiency with industrial machinery, learning how to cut, stitch, and emboss as they create personalized work. What began at tables arrayed with awls, blades and rolls of leather ends up as design pieces students are proud to take home. By Friday evening, Summer Seminars students depart having made new friends and experienced the possibilities of education in pursuit of a creative career.

"I found out about SCAD Summer Seminars when I asked my art teacher which colleges have good industrial design programs and he recommended SCAD," says Vincent Terracciano, a student at Baxter Academy in Portland, Maine. By Friday, Terracciano is doing the final hand-sanding of his leather bag with triangular accents and magnetic buttons. "The leatherworking class has been great. Professor Quick was able to have us make three objects and for that I give her major props. It's been really interesting learning about the different programs SCAD offers."

Chloe Emilio, a rising junior at Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut, took leatherworking and color theory during Summer Seminars. "Color theory class changed the way I look at colors and how they interact. I wanted to bring that to this leatherworking seminar and incorporate the different things I've learned while making my bag." Emilio showed off her handmade leather bag with its complementary purples and yellow and green hues offset by a silver strap. "I always look at bags and think, how do they make that? It's been great this week to learn to make my own."

After copying down professor Quick's contact information (they're encouraged to stay in touch), the students gather their work and offer grateful goodbyes. Quick wears a satisfied smile: "This was a great group. They all wanted to try new things and challenge themselves. At Summer Seminars there's a lot to do and students get right to it. I'm always impressed by their ideas and energy and conviction. The experience of being here and creating work is the most valuable example of what SCAD is like. It's empowering."

SCAD has won the prestigious "Game of the Year – Virtual Reality" award from The Rookies, an international program of recognition  for young designers, creators, innovators, and artists. The Rookies is renowned for discovering and showcasing outstanding talent emerging from higher education facilities and helping to launch them into careers at the world's top studios.

SCAD's winning entry "Centauri" is a virtual reality (VR) adventure where the first-person player is sent to an alien planet to find the salvage of a lifetime. The game was created by a 14-person team of SCAD students headed by lead programmer Victor Burgos (B.F.A., interactive design and game development, 2017) and lead artist Travis Sindewald (B.F.A., interactive design and game development, 2017).

"On top of the world, what a monumental place for our interactive design and game development program to be!" said SCAD president and founder Paula Wallace. "This award by The Rookies is testament to the technologically-advanced career preparation that occurs at SCAD, further proof of what we hear every year from the biggest names when they come to recruit our students. SCAD students are real-world ready."

SCAD offers one of the first and most celebrated interactive design and game development programs in the U.S. Students of the discipline have access to advanced resources and the latest technologies, including a full motion capture lab, green screen studios and Wacom Cintiq displays. The SCAD interactive design and game development is part of the SCAD school of digital media, led by Dean Marilynn "Max" Almy.

In addition, Rookie of the Year Runner Up was awarded to SCAD alumnus Carl Vitasa (B.F.A., interactive game design and game development, 2017) whose project "Dialect Effect: A Tale of Two Tongs" is an immersive Chinese language and culture learning simulation that relies on new voice recognition technology, authentic environments, and engaging animated NPCs to teach a semester of entry-level Mandarin.

Previously, SCAD was named "Best Motion Graphics School" by The Rookies in the 2017 official rankings of The Best Creative Schools in the World.

The Rookies awards are based on over 8,725 entrants from more than 600 universities internationally. Awards were determined by a judging panel that included Joe Letteri, Academy Award winner for Best Visual Effects in two "Lord of the Rings" movies, "Avatar" and "King Kong." Criteria for The Rookies includes creative skills, technical skills, presentation, variety of skills, raw talent and employment potential.

Baseball cap backwards, Coleman Camp coasts his black bicycle around the corner of Habersham onto East 37th Street. Opening a holster, Camp tips an equilateral glass prism across the lens of his Canon AE-1, aiming towards the cupola atop Wallin Hall. The resulting fine art photograph, hand-printed by Camp on matte paper in the lab at Bergen Hall, refracts a solid structure into something hyperreal, anthropomorphic architecture suspended in space. “Some people ask the question, ‘What is reality?’,” Camp says, “but why not simply wonder, ‘Is reality?’”

SCAD: How has being on the SCAD cycling team affected your development as a photographer?

Coleman Camp: When the team rides in Savannah, we often pedal 30 miles beyond downtown, so we’re out seeing different things, and seeing the same things on different days. It’s opened up my visual awareness, and ability to be critical of light and perspective, plus I see places I want to shoot. Leaving Georgia for races has meant opportunities to see new things. When we traveled to Milligan for the conference championship, I rode past a field in Elizabethton where the Tennessee Vintage Baseball Association was playing a game next to an old farm, so I stopped and took photographs. When I came back with those images, my classmates were a bit incredulous.

SCAD: How did you wind up working with a light prism?

CC: I was taking Photography 218: Black-and-white Technique with Professor Jaclyn Cori Norman. I was playing around looking at buildings, and realized I could mirror them using a prism. It’s based on available light and how it relates to your field of vision. At the same time, I had been reading a book called “Mediated: How Media Shapes You and Your World” and conceived of a photo series using the prism to photograph objects indirectly, with a mediated view. Shooting the same idea all quarter, I came out with focused work reflective of my intent, beyond my initial idea.

SCAD: What is the difference between taking a picture and fine art photography?

CC: It’s a matter of intent. You can push buttons on a computer and create after-effects in your photos, but there is an art to creating with a prism in the moment. You have to explore techniques to make your ideas manifest.

The way Professor Norman described her intent as a large format black-and-white photographer is to make people think or feel something through her work. What I take away from that is that fine art photography is more than just making something look pretty, which you see in a lot of commercial work.

Make people think and reflect and feel. As a viewer, perceive freely and don’t limit yourself. We’re here to wonder. Adults are always striving to reconnect with childlike wonder. Why put away that wonder in the first place?

See more work by devoted artist-cyclist and SCAD dean’s list student Coleman Camp here.

What will air travel be like in the year 2027?

This simple prompt got the engines humming for the spring quarter SCAD Collaborative Learning Center (CLC) project with Delta Air Lines.

At a Kiah Hall kick-off meeting on March 30, ten Delta employees—including Carrie Moore, a SCAD alumna currently working at Delta in the airline's global innovation center, The Hangar—met with fifteen SCAD students chosen to participate in the project. The distilled brief: Design a better experience for Delta customers of the future. Nicole Jones, global innovation leader at Delta, added a jocular caveat: "Whatever we say, don't let it sway what you want to do."

The Delta project epitomizes SCAD CLC, where students engage with top businesses to find solutions to timely challenges. The collaborative learning opportunities are devised expressly to prepare SCAD students for successful careers.

"These CLC partnerships are some of the most important things we have to offer students," said Professor Bethany Armstrong, who along with Professor Xenia Viladas guided the SCAD/Delta CLC. "Building real world experiences is the future of education."

As the quarter progressed, students traveled to Atlanta to visit The Hangar and learn more about Delta. Founded in 1924 in Macon, Georgia as an aerial crop dusting enterprise, Delta Air Lines now operates from the global hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport with over 325 destinations worldwide.

SCAD CLC students explored service concepts and experience prototypes while factoring in technical trends, physical environments and social factors to create the Delta experience of tomorrow. Ten weeks and innumerable inspired white-board sessions later, the project culminated in a presentation in the SCAD MOA theater, with the Delta team in attendance.

In the future, CLC student Alex Sander explained, "Security becomes care, time is flow, and control moves to conversation." As fellow student Disharee Mathur put it: "In 2027, Delta is going to take the best care of its customers because it will know them before they get on board."

The students proffered an interactive visual rendering of a theoretical trip taken by two travelers to Sweden in the year 2027. This case study format allowed students to explain how a number of concepts will work in practice, including:

• Thread Talk: The use of "smart" textiles connecting everything from flight attendant uniforms to in-flight seating, creating a superior communication channel between flight crew, onramp staff, customers and virtual assistants.
• Delta Green: A fluid security process utilizing plant-based biometric scanning to allow customers to flow through a checkpoint without stopping to create a seamless experience on the way to the gate.
• Delta Lite: A solution to the pain points of packing and checking bags, allowing travelers to 3D print their clothes and select amenities that will be waiting for them at their destination.

Following a spirited Q&A session, Professor Xenia Viladas observed: "The students are not only able to present their ideas, but have the valuable opportunity to discuss them in real-time with the client."

"I was blown away by the presentation," said Delta's Nicole Jones. "This CLC has been an immersive chance to really hear SCAD students' new thinking and fresh perspectives. In return, we're able to expose students to the Delta brand and the challenges we face in the travel industry. It's a win-win."

Diversity of ideation derived in part from the diversity of SCAD students. The following Bees participated in the Delta CLC:

Dipali Bajaj (B.F.A., user experience design, Bangalore, India)
Marco Cirri (B.F.A., service design, Rome, Italy)
Michelle Compton (B.F.A., graphic design, Little Rock, Arkansas)
Shreya Dhawan (M.F.A., service design, Noida, India)
Disharee Mathur (B.F.A., interior design, Jaipur, India)
Craig Matola (B.F.A., industrial design, Lake Orion, Michigan)
Oluwatoyin Obasa (B.F.A., visual effects, Katy, Texas)
Natalie Ouma (B.A., interior design, Niceville, Florida)
Niket Madhav Parekh (B.F.A., service design, San Francisco, California)
Breana Russell (B.F.A., service design, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina)
Tanmay Rajiv Sabharwal (M.Arch., architecture, Thane, India)
Alex Sander (B.F.A., user experience design, Lakeland, Tennessee)
Eliska Skarolkova (M.A., design for sustainability, Prague, Czech Republic)
Abigail Toon (B.F.A., graphic design, Columbus, Georgia)
Jiayu Zhou (M.F.A., industrial design, Jiangsu, China)

"The great honor of my life is sharing in these defining moments with you," announced SCAD president and founder Paula Wallace to the 2017 graduating class of SCAD Hong Kong. "I can say with absolute certainty: All of you are career ready."

Set in the heart of the Sham Shui Po district, SCAD Hong Kong offers the largest concentration of art and design degree programs in Asia's world city. A fusion of ancient heritage and high-tech resources inspires students from around the globe who study in the former North Kowloon Magistracy building, a grand courthouse revitalized by SCAD to include a library, digital labs and studios, darkrooms, a green screen studio, and sound design and editing suites.

For commencement, the Diamond Ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong shone with accessible opulence as SCAD families came to celebrate their Bees’ big day. The conferment of degrees was followed by a reception in the hotel's three-level foyer.

Here are five memorable remarks from the Hong Kong edition of SCAD commencement 2017:

1. SCAD alumna Sofia Borromeo (B.F.A. fashion, 2010; M.A. luxury and fashion management, 2014):
"With your SCAD degree, anything is possible. Just think, I was once where you are now. After graduating, I now have my own fashion label, my own company, and the consummation of my vision. Keep this in mind as you go out into the professional world."

2. Valedictorian Mohini Khadaria (B.F.A. advertising, 2017):
"From all the early experience that shaped who I've become, I have found my final year to be the most gratifying of all. We have all forged connections that, though they may have been sparked by chance, grew into friendships that will last long after we walk out those doors today, from the final pages of our SCAD story in Hong Kong and into the new chapters around the globe."

3. Excelsus Laureate Kenny Xinda Li (M.A. photography, 2017):
"Each of us is skilled and knowledgeable in our chosen disciplines, and we all have wide-ranging interests and abilities — but like each of you, I'm just one person. That's why it's important to work with others who are experts in their fields. All together, we have expertise across the entire creative landscape. We form a community that is capable of everything."

4. Joyce Wang, award-winning interior designer, Joyce Wang Studio, SCAD Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters recipient:
"You represent the best in art and design education, and you take what you're taught and make the world a brighter place. What you have accomplished as students impresses me and portends tremendous achievement still to come in your professional careers. All of you make this university a special place indeed."

5. Douglas Young, CEO and founder of Goods of Desire (G.O.D.), SCAD Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters recipient:
"The present world order is in constant flux. What we think is the norm today will be replaced by something else very soon. From the way we dress to the movies we see to the food we eat and the music we listen to, all that will change for certain. It is up to us how we change it."

Every year during commencement, SCAD academic leadership presents the Outstanding Achievement Award to up to two graduating seniors or graduate students from each of the university’s eight academic schools. All students who are bestowed this honor meet—and in many cases exceed—a 3.5 grade point average and demonstrate remarkable talent and leadership qualities contributing to their success at SCAD and in their respective industries. SCAD congratulates the 2017 winners of the Outstanding Achievement Awards, and is pleased to share their impressive accomplishments.
   
School of Building Arts
Utharaa Zacharias (M.A., furniture design, 2017, Kochi, India) — While attending SCAD, Zacharias interned with Dakota Jackson, Inc. in New York City. In 2017, her "Medius Chair" was awarded the First Place Student Award for American Society of Furniture Designers (ASFD) Pinnacle Awards.  Zacharias is currently working with Maria Yee Furniture in the San Francisco Bay Area.
 
Erin Ward (M.F.A., historic preservation, 2017, Clinton, New Jersey) — Ward was bestowed the 2017 Master Fine Arts Thesis Award for Exceptional Achievement at SCAD, and consequently inducted into the Tau Sigma Delta Honor Society in Architecture and Allied Arts. She now works with an established architectural firm in Savannah and plans to contribute to the ongoing rebirth of Detroit, where her master's thesis was based.
 
School of Communication Arts
Alyssa Gonzalez (B.F.A., illustration, 2017, Miami, Florida) — Gonzalez's children's book was selected for the Random House Children's Book - Student Illustration Book Dummy Day, showcased at their New York offices in June 2017. Gonzalez has secured employment with Hallmark Cards this summer.
 
Trevor Poudrier (M.F.A., photography, 2016, Waltham, Massachusetts) — Through photographic art and installation, Poudrier investigates the dynamic between consciousness projection and fundamentals of photography. He is currently employing walk-in camera obscura installations to study and develop advanced consciousness projection techniques as part of his research into the ontology of photography.
 
School of Design
Alia Dadarkar (M.F.A., fibers, 2017, Mumbai, India) — Dadarkar's goal is to develop design solutions to encourage the sustainability of craft practices in India. Her thesis work focused on the need to conserve, preserve and celebrate traditional textiles and craft practices by recontextualizing them for a contemporary market.
 
Katherine Brown (B.F.A., industrial design, 2017, San Antonio, Texas) — Brown was Designer in Residence at Radley College in Oxford, England in 2016, teaching industrial design fundamentals to high school students. Her project "Cellula" won an honorable mention in the 2015 International Design Awards.
 
School of Digital Media
Christian Gallagher (B.F.A., visual effects, 2017, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania) — As a student, Gallagher served as President of the SCAD Digital Media Club and interned at the creative media agency JTWO Films. He currently works as a visual effects Houdini artist at Moving Picture Company in Los Angeles.
 
Joash Berkeley (B.F.A., motion media design, 2017, Fyzabad, Trinidad) — Berkeley was featured as the Designer of the Week in Print Magazine in July 2016. His 2017 short film "One in Seven Billion" was a finalist in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards, and placed 2nd in the Rookies International Student Competition. He won a Student Emmy from the Television Academy Foundation’s 38th College Television Awards for the opening titles for the SCAD student-produced scripted television series, "The Buzz." Berkeley has worked at Apple, Imaginary Forces and recently joined Buck TV in Los Angeles.
 
School of Entertainment Arts
Sydney Schaefer (B.F.A., performing arts, 2017, Mequon, Wisconsin) — Schaefer was the lead casting intern in the SCAD Casting Office, the only professionally run casting office at a university. During her time at SCAD, Schaefer worked on a wide range of film and television projects including WGN's series "Underground," BBC's "Living the Dream," "Baywatch" and "The Do-Over."
 
Shasta Ford (M.F.A., film and television, 2017, Deltona, Florida) — Ford is an Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation College Television Awards EMMY winner for Best Scripted Series, "The Buzz." Her work on "The Buzz" also earned her a Regional Emmy award. The organization also recognized Ford with a Student Production Award  for short form nonfiction and long form fiction.
 
School of Fashion
Suzanne Brady (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2017, Buford, Georgia) — Brady was a college program intern at Walt Disney World's Tomorrowland and is currently a sales adviser at H&M. While at SCAD, she developed a love for costuming and is pursuing a return to Walt Disney World as an entertainment costume designer.
 
Jessica Riess (M.A., luxury and fashion management, 2016, Matthews, North Carolina) — Riess holds an M.B.A. and has positioned herself for a career in luxury travel and hospitality. Her final Master of Arts project was a comprehensive strategic plan for the development and marketing of a luxury hotel for Hermès.
 
School of Fine Arts
Cortney Frasier (M.F.A., painting, 2017, Mooresville, North Carolina) — Frasier teaches elementary art within the North Carolina public school system and serves as an advocate for fine arts education within the state. She was recently awarded Teacher of the Year honors in her district. In addition to receiving the Kiah Painting Scholarship from SCAD, Frasier is working on a new body of large-scale installation work that addresses gravity.
 
School of Liberal Arts

A'ndrea Wilson (M.F.A., dramatic writing, 2017, Soperton, Georgia) — Wilson is the author of over two dozen fiction and nonfiction titles and the owner of an independent publishing company. She is currently adapting one of her novels into a made-for-television film.
 
Katherine McCarthy (B.F.A., art history, 2017, Naperville, Illinois) — McCarthy has accepted an offer of admission to the Ph.D. program at the University of Texas-Austin. Based on her achievements at SCAD, she received an academic fellowship for her doctoral coursework in Mesoamerican art history.
 
Please join SCAD in applauding these accomplished creative professionals. Go Bees!

"You are the living embodiment of enlightenment," beamed SCAD president and founder Paula Wallace at graduating students at SCAD commencement 2017. "Today is one of those lightbulb moments. It's positively glowing in here – what an occasion!"

The stage at the Savannah Civic Center shone with ornamental lightbulbs. Floral seed pods tucked inside screw-top bulbs were bonus gifts. SCAD families from locales as varied as Caracas, Venezuela, Evergreen, Colorado and Chester, Maryland came to celebrate their Bees buzzing forth. Growing and glowing were the orders of the day.

The ceremony built to John Malkovich's keynote address and a rousing performance by Andra Day of her anthem "Rise Up." In celebration of the great day, here are five memorable remarks from the Savannah edition of SCAD commencement 2017:

1. SCAD alumna Jaime Barker (B.F.A. fashion), co-creator Flagpole swimwear:
"SCAD prepares you to use your hard work, to take risks with confidence. Even though you're leaving the SCAD hive, there are so many ways to stay in touch. You might be invited to participate in orientation, be a juror for the senior Fashion Show, or speak at commencement! You will always be part of the SCAD family, no matter where you are in the world."

2. Valedictorian Faten AlMukhtar (B.F.A. advertising):
"At SCAD, we understand that design transcends creativity to shape society right now and far into the future. The world needs our outside-the-box thinking to spark change. Designers need to be brave and inquisitive, to ask pertinent questions. We are always thinking about, dreaming of, planning for the future that happens all around us. Remember to look inside yourselves to discover and realize your dreams. The future we all share stars with you."

3. Excelsus Laureate Wendy Eduarte (M.A. motion media design):
"Today we celebrate all our hard work: long days overflowing with research and study, long evenings devoted to creating, always pursuing excellence. That's part of the bond we share now, and it's essential. Our discipline has driven us to achieve our greatest aspirations, and it will continue to power our greatest accomplishments yet to come."

4. Mike Buzzard, Google design leader, SCAD Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters recipient:
"Looking back on my own path has helped steer the work I've done with SCAD. Less than two years ago we launched the UX Design program, and its growth has been astonishing. It's important to me that students understand how to apply their training of modern tools, concepts and processes in ways that allow them to create their own opportunities, success stories and character-building moments."

5. John Malkovich, actor, director, fashion designer and SCAD Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters and Étoile recipient:
"To have the opportunity to live a creative life, to have even the possibility of the opportunity to live a creative life, is a gift. Yes, the gift may come at a price, but there is always a price for doing what you want in this life. But the rewards far outweigh the obstacles. You'll find your way. I did, and have more or less lived to tell the tale, and I sincerely doubt I was half as clever or talented or prepared as you are today. Godspeed."

Celebrated creative visionary John Malkovich will address graduates at the Savannah College of Art and Design's Georgia campuses in Savannah and Atlanta, this Saturday, June 3. The occasion will mark the first time Malkovich has delivered a commencement address at a college or university.

"SCAD is overjoyed to welcome John Malkovich as our 2017 SCAD commencement speaker," declared Paula Wallace, SCAD president and founder. "He lives a life of distinct brilliance and intentional artistry. His knowledge and experience is vast, his achievements multiform."

SCAD's recognition of Malkovich epitomizes a belief in the ability of art to transform the world. Malkovich's career as an artistic polymath speaks directly to the vitality of the more than 100 degree programs offered at SCAD, including film and television, cinema studies, dramatic writing, fashion, fashion marketing and management, fibers, performing arts and writing.

A native of Christopher, Illinois and co-founder of the Chicago-based Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Malkovich directed or acted in more than fifty Steppenwolf productions between 1976 and 1982, including his Obie-winning triumph opposite Gary Sinise in Sam Shepard's "True West". In 1986, Malkovich directed fellow actor D.W. Moffett — currently the SCAD chair of film and television — in a "stunning revival" (the New York Times) of the Lanford Wilson drama "Balm in Gilead" at Circle Repertory Theater in New York.

Malkovich's film roles in Spike Jonze's meta classic "Being John Malkovich," Stephen Frears' "Dangerous Liaisons," Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun," Paul Newman's "The Glass Menagerie," Roland Joffe's "The Killing Fields" and Joel and Ethan Coen's "Burn After Reading" are among his more than 70 big screen star turns. Performances in Wolfgang Petersen's "In the Line of Fire" and Robert Benton's "Places in the Heart" earned him nominations for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2002, Malkovich made his feature directorial debut with "The Dancer Upstairs." He appeared in the acclaimed feature "Dominion," which made its U.S. premiere at the 2016 Savannah Film Festival.

As a fashion designer, Malkovich is celebrated for his lissome menswear. A passionate fabric collector and selector, he has previously welcomed SCAD Lacoste students on a private tour of his prêt-à-porter collection at a pop-up boutique near SCAD's incomparable campus in Lacoste, France. His latest sartorial endeavor, John Malkovich Fashion, launched in January, 2017 with a collection including gabardine jackets, mandarin-collared shirts and a vented, tartan raincoat, as well scarves printed with Malkovich's own quixotic illustrations.

Malkovich will address graduates Saturday at 9 a.m. the Savannah Civic Center, where he will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. He will speak in Atlanta at 6 p.m. at Georgia World Congress Center, where he will be awarded the SCAD Étoile in recognition of his monumental creative work. The SCAD Class of 2017 is the largest in the university's history, with more than 2,400 graduates. We welcome John Malkovich to SCAD for this historic celebration.