SCAD Atlanta student Linxin "April" Lu (M.F.A., advertising) has been awarded first place ($5,000 prize) at the Student Shark Tank competition at the Global Wellness Summit, for her idea for Sveeet, a portable saliva test for diabetic youth. Shaped like a fortune cookie, Sveeet is a concept device intended to use biocensors able to detect glucose levels. Lu accepted the award after presenting at the summit, held in Boston in December 2021.

In addition to April, the Sveeet project group included SCAD Atlanta students Zhentao "Evens" Xia (M.F.A., advertising), Yuxin "Elle" Yi (M.F.A., advertising), and Yuting "Tibo" Zhu (M.F.A., advertising). The students were guided by advertising professor Gauri Misra-Deshpande during graduate coursework culminating in the project.

"These SCAD Atlanta advertising students are prepared to create product ideas within the multi-billion-dollar wellness innovation industry," Misra-Deshpande said. "They are taught to understand market, audience, brand needs, and how to create a story that resonates with all stakeholders."

The students developed Sveeet in a virtual setting in 2021; they were grouped by professor Misra-Deshpande out of time-zone necessity, conducting their work live while in China. (All four students have since returned to in-person, on-ground learning in Atlanta.) 

"The diligent Sveeet team worked virtually from different cities in China," confirms Misra-Deshpande. "They and their class focused on audience definition, empathy mapping, product design exercises, and storytelling. Students with language and cultural diversity were guided through wellness market landscape and innovation paradigms to conceptualize solutions."

April prepared with SCADamp associate director and communication coach Greg Skura prior to her presentation on stage in Boston. The Shark Tank of Wellness awards were judged by Frank Pitsikalis, founder and CEO, ResortSuite; Amir Alroy, co-founder, Welltech Ventures; Karen Ballou, founder & CEO, Immunocologie Skincare, and Mia Kyricos, Chief Love Officer, Kyricos & Associates.

April Lu: "Because the Global Wellness Summit allowed one person on stage, I presented. As a team, we were all responsible for different roles: I was responsible for the video, Evens took charge of the digital prototype and 3D modeling, Tibo was in charge of branding, and Elle was in charge of research. Once we had our key selling point, we wrote a creative brief and went from there."

For the Sveeet team, connecting over Zoom was a daily activity. Unsurprisingly, when it came time to discuss her Global Wellness win with SCADworks, April coordinated her three other Sveeet team members for a video chat where they offered insights into their process, and reactions to the award.

Elle Yi: "With the focus on global wellness, we started with the realization that some of our own family members are diabetic, so we decided to focus on the blood sugar problem. The first part of our research was into the many products that already exist, and how it's gone beyond having to prick your finger into testing with saliva. So, we focused on designing a device that would do that."

Evens Xia: "As a group, we did a lot of prototyping to refine the idea. We changed the shape many times, until we settled on the curvy fortune cookie shape that we knew will appeal to children."

Tibo Zhu: "When we thought about branding, we knew the product would be the same worldwide, but it would have to be branded and advertised differently in different countries and cultures."

Linxin Lu: "Sveeet has the tagline 'The best is yet to come' and I was having difficulty pronouncing it.  I worked with our SCADamp coach Greg on that until I was comfortable saying it in competition. I was still nervous, but I realized I need to be ambitious when I speak English."

Evens: "She did a great job presenting the work, showing our idea, and expressing the emotions of the product. Sveeet is a concept that has real potential to be developed into a product in the global marketplace."

Congratulations to SCAD Atlanta student Rui Wang (M.F.A., advertising) who won second place ($2,500) at this year's Global Wellness Summit for his idea, a circadian-sensitive sleep skylight called Sora.

"Architecture needs to be more human," says Mateo Mantilla (M.Arch; B.F.A., architecture, 2020). "'Human' means designed for people, for health, for well-being. It means built environments where we can live better lives together."

Mantilla is the IDA Design Awards 2021 Emerging Architectural Designer of the Year, the latest accolade for this focused phenom. His winning proposal, Terminale Dell'Isola, was developed over two quarters in studio courses under the guidance and leadership of architecture professor Alice Guess. (The project also received the 2021 "Excellence Award" from AIA Georgia.) Working from Guess' prompt, Mantilla designed a new building and mixed-use environment for the relocation of an untenable cruise ship terminal in Venice, Italy.

"Sea level rise is challenging the way we design buildings, and in response, my building is designed to float by applying the same concepts of buoyancy that allow ships to float," Mantilla explains. "When the sea level rises to extreme levels, the building will hover freely. And there is the possibility of expansion through connecting similar modules, creating a floating community."

As tourism contributes to Venice's environmental crisis, cruise ships damage buildings' foundations, and the relationship between Venetians and visitors is exacerbated—issues addressed by Mateo.

"My proposal brings a new opportunity for locals to interact with the tourists," he says. "It presents a courtyard, market, soccer field, park, café, and performance space, creating places for community."

Mantilla's design process combines hand-drawn drafting and digital tools including Rhino ("which gives me freedom to explore shapes and details") and Lumion 3D ("which allows me to visualize and ‘walk through' my design"). This technical skill set is, in Mantilla's hands, beholden to storytelling.

"I begin with an image in my head. If I were to visit this place, what would I like to see people doing? What do I see? What's to my left and to my right? I designed a building resembling an island, showing possible aquatic activities, and how people can interact with the water without necessarily being in it."

What is clear is Mateo's determination to foreground humanity. His debates with professor Guess signify a commitment to questioning parameters to redefine what's possible. This is the student-faculty dynamic as it should be: expansive understanding, not rote execution.

Professor Guess: "Mateo is so bright, he at times needs convincing that there might be additional considerations for him to address. Sometimes I require convincing that his solutions are grounded in good design thinking. It's one of the things that makes Mateo a delight to have in the classroom. He is remarkably well-organized and brings passion to his work. He began by describing how the project had looked in a dream. That level of immersion is what drives Mateo's success."

This spring, Mantilla will complete his Master of Architecture degree. His thesis will focus on designing a neighborhood for his hometown, Bogota, Colombia.

Growing up, Mantilla remembers watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on TV—"I liked the construction, the design, and how much people enjoyed coming home to their new house." As a high school student in an International Baccalaureate program, he encountered SCAD at a college fair. "I applied to SCAD because I saw I would be surrounded by designers. My world has opened up here more than if I had stayed in Colombia."

Now, his work advances the idea that value may have a measure other than the financial, and that architecture can aspire towards egalitarianism.

"Architecture has to add value to the lives of people," Mantilla says. "Architecture is about more than buildings. It's about giving people a better quality of life."

See more of Mateo's work here.

For Danielle Elsener (B.F.A., fashion, 2013), a time of global tumult has been anything but idle. Since receiving the Evian Activate Movement Program grant in July 2020, the visionary designer was a featured exhibitor with the ZWDO collective at COP26 UN Climate Change Conference; collaborated with popular Portland, Oregon legacy brand Settlemier's Jackets; set up her zero-waste manufacturing facility DECODE MFG in Brooklyn Navy Yard; and headlined the ongoing exhibition "Design and Healing: Creative Responses to Epidemics" at the Smithsonian's Cooper Hewitt museum. 

She also found time to get hitched to her sweetheart and business partner, Clay. Way to go, Danielle!

Danielle Elsener:

In fall 2020, a SCAD graduate, Julia Blandford (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2020), asked if she could interview me for her podcast Seeking Sustainability. Stephen Campbell from Settlemier's Jackets heard it and got in touch. Settlemier's are a third-generation-owned company who were still working off of cardboard patterns. I digitized their patterns on a software called CLO3D, then we began the process of designing a zero-waste varsity jacket, which meant figuring out how to retain components like wool trim and snap fronts. We've been able to design a jacket with all the key details. It's led to significant interest and sizable orders.

Collaborating with Settlemier's was wonderful, and when I decided to move to New York, I wanted to keep working with them. Since we opened our DECODE manufacturing facility, we've been able to take some overflow work from them to fill orders for zero-waste varsity jackets. It was really the first backing we needed to make the decision that yes, opening our own facility is feasible.

Zero-waste design is a methodology that takes existing objects and reworks them in a manner that uses 100% of the material, without sacrificing design. In the world of manufacturing, it's hard to get people to change how they do things. Yet, with the current challenges in the global supply chain, right now there are a huge number of American companies looking for domestic manufacturers. I realized that to create this world that I want of zero-waste design, I needed to open a facility and do manufacturing myself.

At DECODE, we've been hiring skilled laborers—specifically production sewers who know how to use industrial sewing machines and understand techniques for efficiency. I've found great people. We are building up our zero-waste basics line: t-shirts, hoodies, sweatpants. There are tons of companies out there looking for a t-shirt that's good to print on, but there isn't a zero-waste one that you can buy commercially. Once we have that solid foundation, I'll flex my design muscles and start making collections and capsules and collaborations with artists—all that fun stuff.

With Zero Waste Design Online (ZWDO), we are a collective of four women from around the world who all practice zero-waste design. For COP26, we worked with Sustainable Fashion Scotland to create a group exhibit called Generation of Waste that represented all the stages that take place in the typical fashion lifecycle. We were the only fashion-related exhibition in the delegate zone at COP26, which brings legitimacy in the minds of policy makers, who see that what we're presenting is actionable. This can bring about significant change.

DECODE is a sustainable business that makes sustainable products. We also need to be a self-sustaining business where we have enough orders coming in. There's so much need in manufacturing right now that I'm getting phone calls from people, like, "We need 200 skirts by next week!" I have to remember I opened DECODE MFG for a reason. I want to stick to that purpose, or else what's the point of becoming just another manufacturing facility? As a business owner, it's about keeping everyone here involved in the purpose of what we're doing. It's a really exciting time.

Visit Danielle and DECODE.

Learn more about this pattern master in our previous post from 2020.

SCAD achieved a 10-year reaffirmation of its accreditation with no recommendations for improvement from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). This stellar achievement marks the university's second consecutive decade of flawless SACSCOC accreditation and clearly demonstrates the exceptional quality and value of a SCAD education.

Over the last three years SCAD participated in the reaffirmation of accreditation process by SACSCOC—which includes reviews by off-site and on-site committees, the SACSCOC Committees on Compliance and Reports, standing committees of the SACSCOC Board of Trustees, the SACSCOC Executive Council, and a final review and decision by the SACSCOC Board of Trustees. At the December 2021 SACSCOC Annual Meeting, the Commission officially announced the full-term reaffirmation of SCAD's accreditation.

SACSCOC is the body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern United States. All SACSCOC member institutions are required to undergo a reaffirmation of accreditation every 10 years or less. Earning and maintaining accreditation is a major process for any institution and is crucial for quality assurance in higher education.

When accreditation is awarded to an institution of higher education by SACSCOC, the institution has a mission appropriate to higher education; resources, programs, and services sufficient to accomplish and sustain its mission; clearly specified educational objectives that are consistent with its mission and appropriate to the degrees it offers; and that it is successful in assessing its achievement of these objectives and demonstrating improvements. Accreditation by SACSCOC is a statement of the institution's continuing commitment to quality and integrity as well as its capacity to provide effective programs and services based on agreed-upon accreditation standards.

"SCAD celebrates our 10-year reaffirmation of accreditation with joy and pride," said SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace. "The university has once again been confirmed to be in 100% compliance with all accreditation standards and has been awarded the maximum possible term of accreditation. All of us at SCAD share a deep and abiding passion for our mission to prepare students for rewarding lifelong professions, and we proudly deliver on that promise to students and their families. SCAD is truly best in class and the preeminent source of knowledge for aspiring creators, designers, entrepreneurs, and makers."

In addition to university-wide accreditation by SACSCOC, the university's professional M.Arch. degree is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board and the SCAD interior design program leading to the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Atlanta and Savannah is accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation. For more information on the university's accreditation visit scad.edu/accreditation.

The Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit, accredited university, offering more than 100 academic degree programs across its locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France; and online via SCADnow.

SCAD enrolls 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 100 countries. The innovative SCAD curriculum engages professional-level technology and other advanced learning resources, and affords students opportunities for internships, professional certifications, and real-world assignments with corporate partners through SCADpro, the university's renowned professional research lab and prototype generator.

SCAD is No. 1 in the U.S., according to Art & Object's 2021 Best Art Schools ranking, with additional top rankings for degree programs in interior design, architecture, film, fashion, digital media, and more. Career preparation is woven into every fiber of the university, resulting in a superior alumni employment rate. In a recent study, 99% of SCAD graduates were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 10 months of graduation. SCAD provides students and alumni with lifelong career support through personal coaching, alumni programs, a professional presentation studio, and more. Visit scad.edu.

The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) has named Joel Ax (B.F.A., furniture design, 2017) one of the 100 Greatest Men's Swimmers & Divers of the past century. The most dominant freestyler in NAIA history, Ax is named to a list that includes legendary Olympic champions Caleb Dressel, Ryan Lochte, and Mark Spitz. When SCADworks sent Ax a note of congratulations, his response exceeded all expectations. This exemplary artist-athlete from Idstein, Germany detailed his personal journey with honesty and humility. What follows is an edited version of Joel's written reply.

Joel Ax:

I feel honored to be named among the "100 Greatest" alongside some of the most famous and successful college swimmers ever, many of whom I looked up to during my swimming career. The number of messages of congratulations from fellow swimmers, coaches, and former teammates I've received has made me proud. I am a ‘small fish', and there are others who should be on the list. This allows me to put my experience in perspective.

When I finished high school in 2012, I didn't really know what to do. I'd been part of the German junior national team since I was 16. I was one of the most decorated swimmers in Germany, and maybe also one of the most promising ones too. But what began as a joyful hobby felt like it was slowly eating me up. I needed a change. I went through a tough phase after I didn't qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. I took a year off and started working in a retirement home as a social worker and housekeeper for disabled people.

The only options for me to combine an education with a swimming career in Germany were to become a firefighter, a police officer, or join the military. So, I pursued a scholarship in the United States, where I could choose more freely what I wanted to study. I was looking into powerhouses like Michigan, California, and Florida and soon got offers from Princeton, Yale, UCLA and others. I finally chose Arizona State University since rumors were spreading that Michael Phelps and his coach Bob Bowman would be there. I didn't want to let that chance pass by.

A few months before I was supposed to start in Arizona, I received a call from their athletic department that there was a problem. There is a rule that you can't have more than six months between high school and college and still be eligible to compete in the NCAA. Since I'd taken a year off, this meant I was not able to swim for Arizona my first year and a 90% scholarship offer turned into a 40% offer and no guarantee to make the team the following year.

I was on the edge of turning down all offers and becoming a police officer in Germany. Then SCAD swimming head coach Chris Conlon contacted me. I'd never heard of SCAD, and only knew Savannah from the movie Forrest Gump. Coach Conlon told me SCAD had great interior design program and a swim team that was part of the NAIA, where the six-month rule didn't apply. He made sure I understood that he really wanted me to come to SCAD and offered me a full ride. Fast forward four years, and I graduated summa cum laude with a 3.96 GPA and a degree in furniture design.

Coach Bill Pilczuk took over from Coach Conlon in 2016, and he taught me that small changes can have a huge impact on the way you perform, both inside and outside the pool. My final year at SCAD was my most fun year swimming-wise since the beginning of my career.

Looking back, I'm so happy that I chose an education at SCAD. The change of perspective, the connection with other cultures, the challenge of balancing swimming and my position as a team leader with pursuing a design career — it all helped me see that I am a small link in the chain, but my actions impact a greater whole.

Since returning to live in Germany, I have worked as a carpenter, teacher, bike mechanic, and graphic designer. I've leaned into the building side of design to improve my work skills and learned to weld. Now I feel confident enough to finally open my own studio. The knowledge I gained as a swimmer is something I can use in my creative life and professional pursuits.

Some say swimming is an individual sport. At SCAD I learned that when you can count on the support of your team, a win is not an individual victory, but a victory for the whole team. The way we improved every year, peaking my senior year, still gives me goosebumps. When you help others improve, you become a better swimmer automatically — and a better person too!

Joel Ax (top row, third from left) and the SCAD swimming and diving team 2016-2017.

Learn more about SCAD swimming, and come support the Bees this Dec. 3-4 as they host the SCAD Invite at the Chatham County Aquatic Center!

"By primal, I don't mean primitive, I mean essentialism," says Archana Menon (M.F.A., furniture design), founder of design studio primal-forms. "Simplicity can facilitate reflection and joy."

Strolling coffee-in-hand through Savannah's tree-lined Pulaski Square, Archana is ostensibly on break between academic quarters. In reality, the graduate student has just finished organizing the shipment of her furniture collection to New York City, where the undulating five-foot-long ebonized ash bench and two accompanying ash and alabaster lamps will be displayed during ICFF 2021. She'll be there too, appearing on WantedDesign Manhattan's Emerging Design Showcase panel. Then on to Design Miami, where the designer will discuss her work as part of the Whitewall panel Design Impact: Creating for a More Sustainable Future on November 30.


"I trained as an architect in Mumbai, then worked in interiors and hospitality, and doing residential architecture work in India," Archana says. "During that process, I realized I enjoyed designing furniture and felt that was my calling. SCAD offered me a good scholarship, and I came here to study for a master's degree in Fall 2019—my first time in the United States. Everyone has been so welcoming and supportive, students and faculty. SCAD furniture is family."

Professor Frederic Spector, SCAD associate chair of furniture design, initially encountered Archana in FURN 715, Methods in Furniture Fabrication. "Archana designed and built a tri-legged table with beautiful sculptural tapered turned legs and a curved top," Spector says. "She taught herself how to use the lathe and how to incorporate 3-axis CNC milling, processes typically not covered in that class. In a subsequent graduate studio, where the project was to design and build a work-from-home desk, she designed a desk system where work surfaces, legs, and privacy panels lock in. This whole system was both well-engineered and sculpturally beautiful. She has an amazing eye for form and proportion, and a keen understanding of trends."  

The freshness of Archana's approach is due in part to circumventing the dominant Western design repertoire. "What if there was a more open, pluralistic environment, where we find inspiration in incorporating different cultures into our design?" she asks.

A keen admirer of the artist and landscape architect Isamu Noguchi, Archana designed and built her primal-forms lamps "Lighting I & II" informed by the ancient monolithic columns of Hampi, India. Her bench "Seating I" nods to Eastern cultural traditions of sitting closer to the ground; per its catalog description, the bench "aims to step away from rigid ergonomic standards and promotes fluidity of interpretation." As Archana says: "You can sit on it however you want!"

Having won the 2021 Hospitality Design/West Elm Student Product Design Competition for her "Bloom" lighting collection, Archana received a $5,000 prize and will have her winning design produced and sold by West Elm—a significant, palpable step towards manifesting her design philosophy in the retail space.

"The multi-cultural aspect of SCAD is something that drew me here," Archana says. "I don't treat SCAD as a school, I see it as a start to a professional journey."

Archana Menon (M.F.A., furniture design).

"Fear is fuel — we have it naturally as human beings for a reason," said actor Ruth Negga, from the stage of Trustees Theater in downtown Savannah. "Acting is learning to harness that fear by whatever means, and doing it in way that doesn't freeze you but frees you."

The Academy Award-nominated actor was speaking before a screening of Passing, the new feature film directed by Rebecca Hall, during day three of the 24th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival. Adapted from the Harlem Renaissance novel by Nella Larsen, Passing refracts the adversarial friendship between two women living contrasting lives across the color line, as portrayed by Negga and Tessa Thompson.

A festival honoree, Negga was presented with the 2021 Spotlight Award by students Jocelyn Webb (M.F.A., production design) and Tamanda Kadewere (B.F.A., performing arts). To Negga's delight, the students got in an enthused mention of her upcoming role on Broadway, while managing to avoid saying the dreaded name "Macbeth" on stage.

Negga thanked SCAD President Paula Wallace, then directly addressed the students she'd met during a master class earlier in the day: "Your questions were inspiring, your energy was inspiring, and I just want to say ‘courage, my friends' because I believe in you, and I believe that your voices will be heard, and they will be valued, because that's the direction we've been moving in."

After the film, Negga sat for a Q+A with Variety film awards editor Clayton Davis, who asked about the origin of the project and its source material.

"It's very rare that you read scripts that are so vital, you think this needs to be seen, this needs to be in production immediately. The book was written in 1929, which is astonishing that it's taken this long for it to come to the screen but, perhaps, not that surprising," Negga said.

"I found my way to Nella Larsen through Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou [and] my interest in Black female writers in the U.S. When [director] Rebecca [Hall] told me she was interested in adapting this, I was absolutely thrilled and I saw it as an opportunity to shine a light on this forgotten writer. I met Rebecca in New York and she told me her plans with such passion and ferocity that it was contagious. I wanted to be part of it.

"Rebecca was deliberate in casting that we all have the same approach, that it can't happen in a vacuum. When you're acting you must be an open channel, and open vessel, in order to interact with everyone's energies and spirit. With Clair and Irene, these characters are almost interchangeable, and we thought a lot about how they are two interrogations of the same psyche — Nella Larsen's — and the tension that exists in one person. Following your desires versus treating them as taboos. That meant that our performances are interdependent, there's a beautiful symbiosis to them."

Negga then turned, making eye contact with the entire audience as one:

"I can't stress enough that Passing was written nearly a hundred years ago. You end up thinking, How far have we come, really?"

The SCAD Savannah Film Festival continues through Sat. Oct. 30, 2021.

"In the film you're about to see, you'll see a love of what's happening right now: a large group of people in a movie theater, together, looking at a big screen," said writer-director Kenneth Branagh, addressing a keen crowd from the stage of Trustees Theater, before a gala screening of his film Belfast. "You, coming here to support this film festival in person, you inspire me. And given what's happened to the world, it's a wonderful step. What you're doing is, as Shakespeare would put it, 'a good deed in a naughty world.' And for that, thank you very much."

The ovation in response was spontaneous and electric. Opening night of the 2021 SCAD Savannah Film Festival celebrated a return to the in-person grandeur of a crown jewel of the SCAD event calendar. In a suitably luminous moment, Branagh was presented with the Lifetime Achievement in Acting and Directing Award by SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace.

"It makes me feel proud and privileged to do the work that I do," Branagh said, making mention of being in Savannah 25 years ago while filming The Gingerbread Man with the late, great director Robert Altman. "It's a city throbbing with creativity, vitality, and generosity, and I'm honored to be back. I know Savannah as an incredibly kind place."

Branagh thanked President Wallace and SCAD executive director of theaters and festivals Christina Routhier for their extraordinary work nurturing this "world-famous festival, an amazing achievement." He expressed admiration for "SCAD itself, as an institution producing great work and great students [who are] most impressive with their energy, their concentration, their intelligence, their playfulness and seriousness about the work. A real tonic."

A tribute reel of Branagh's career juxtaposed memorable moments from films including Tenet, Murder on the Orient Express, My Week with Marilyn, and Dead Again. The audience was further roused by a performance by SCAD harmony singing group The Honeybees.

Introducing his own film, Belfast, Branagh said it was a story he had been "waiting and wanting" to tell for 50 years. Based on his own childhood, Belfast follows a nine-year-old boy coming of age in an explosive moment as sectarian violence rocks his city, his community, his very street. As Branagh poetically put it:

"I grew up in a place where it seemed to rain a lot. But there was plenty of sunshine in the hearts of people. And we laughed a lot about silly things. So please feel free to laugh tonight, if you feel moved to do so. And we held each other when we cried about serious things, and generally we were there for each other as a community. And then, as they say, things changed."

Special thanks to Turner Classic Movies host Dave Karger for the superb Q+A with Branagh following the screening. As Karger said: "I have just seen my favorite movie of 2021, and I hope you agree."

For more information about this year's Festival, visit the official site.

"Water is a live element that creates human engagement and informs the built environment," says architecture professor Hsu-Jen Huang, a two-time recipient of the SCAD Presidential Fellowship and Sabbatical Award. "Water moves."

Pre-pandemic, Huang traveled to the river towns of China's Jiangnan region—south of the Yangtze River, straddling Shanghai—where he inked his impressions, an artistic practice he calls "talking to the environment." Returning to Savannah, sequestered in his studio, he then hand-painted some two dozen paper parasols, which became the stars of his sabbatical short film "Beyond the River"—an exquisite rumble of color and movement, created with the participation of SCAD students.

Huang's practice of sketching his surroundings dates to his early ventures as a SCAD recruiter, when he would arrive in a U.S. town or city, sketch the sights, then integrate that work into his presentation to prospective students. This literal and symbolic through-line, from a professor who joined SCAD in 1998, assumes a cumulative power informed by his deep understanding of architecture and world history. When researching, visiting, observing and documenting, Huang says, "I always travel with an agenda, never with expectations."

Hsu-Jen Huang:

My sabbatical project focuses on the six famous historic water towns in the Jiangnan area of Southern China. I recorded and documented their current character through my personal graphic vocabulary of photography, sketches, and mixed media representations. My intent was to reflect the broader scope of each immediate setting, its relationship with its inhabitants, and its response to modern pressures and influences. 


The project advanced my professional and academic expertise in southern Chinese architecture and culture, and allowed me to research and document the unique water townscape. It enhanced my knowledge of Chinese architecture and the built environment, and how water influenced urban development. These are important areas that contribute to my architecture and urban design coursework for students across multiple disciplines within the SCAD School of Building Arts, and across the university. This is particularly important due to SCAD's role as an international institution with a diverse student body and an international approach to architecture education. 

With the increasing reliance on digital tools in education, I have noticed that students depend upon technology, and this significantly impacts the ways they conceptualize design and perceive the environment, as well as the depth of those perceptions. I want to promote documentation in the form of photographs, videos, drawings, and sketches, thereby ensuring that students gain skills that contribute to their understanding and appreciation of the physical environment. These are aspects that, as designers, affect a critical difference in the ability to create buildings, interiors, products, and other artifacts that contribute to our culture.

My sabbatical project provides valuable documentation of the southern Chinese architecture and the waterscape town design, as well as the impact of modernization on traditional and vernacular architecture. The impact of conservation efforts are a special area of consideration.

This project is a continuation of my 2012 sabbatical research, "Journey | Destination Tibetan Plateau: Views of the Tibetan Plateau." I want to thank President Wallace for endowing this fellowship which has contributed so much to my professional development and my role as a member of SCAD faculty.

SCAD recognizes that continuous faculty professional development contributes significantly to the quality of teaching and learning at the university. The SCAD Presidential Fellowship and Sabbatical Awards provide eligible professors with opportunities to pursue professional growth and new or renewed professional achievement through study, research, and practice.

Break out the awesome sauce: Brittany Leffler (B.A., visual communication, advertising, 2015) has been named a Future Leader in Convenience by Convenience Store News. The honor celebrates Leffler as part of the next generation of convenience industry leaders, and provides a forum for the further development of leadership skills. Leffler, loyalty and brand manager for convenience store chain Parker's, is one of 25 industry professionals age 35 and younger honored in 2021.
 
"Brittany is extremely creative and excels at looking at the big picture when it comes to brand management, loyalty, and customer engagement," said Parker's founder and CEO Greg Parker. "A strategic thinker and tactical professional with a ‘can-do' attitude, Brittany is the heart and soul of our company's loyalty program and a rising star in the convenience store industry."

"I feel my hard work has paid off, which is fantastic," says Leffler.

Since its founding in 1976, Parker's has grown from one store in Midway, GA to an award-winning company with locations throughout Georgia and South Carolina. It is a convenience destination of choice for SCAD students, many of whom arrive in Savannah unfamiliar with the chain. As an undergraduate student, Leffler—who grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and attended Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts—was no different.

"My first experience as a Parker's customer was downtown at the market on Drayton Street," she says of the location nicknamed "Fancy Parker's." "We see that as our flagship store, but we still make the Parker's experience as consistent as we can. If I'm driving on I-16 and I see a Parker's, that's where I'm stopping because I know I'm going to get a great experience." 
 
As loyalty and brand manager, Leffler manages and executes member communications to more than 210,000 Parker's Rewards members, loyalty program logistics, and digital content on the Parker's website. She also oversees digital menu boards, mobile menu ordering, and the Parker's Rewards app.

"I started with Parker's in 2016 as the graphic designer and marketing assistant," Leffler says. "I handled digital content and in-store signage across 50 stores. Over my three years as the graphic designer, I started to identify needs we had in terms of digital and advertising. Parker's recognized that I had a knack for communication with our customers and brand consistency, and my position as loyalty and brand manager grew out of that."

Leffler sees her SCAD experience as a key to her professional success. "My SCAD degree in visual communication means I got the best of both worlds—my focus was advertising, with lots of graphic design classes. Arlene Distel was one of my favorite professors. She really helped me hone my creative thinking skills. That means not only design but copywriting and the creative brief and the mechanism behind the marketing."
 
It's to this Future Leader of Convenience's credit that Parker's was also named the 2020 Convenience Store Decisions Chain of the Year, the industry's highest honor. One question remains: What Parker's snack keeps Leffler going? "That's hard," she says. "I'd say the chicken sandwich. With extra Parker's sauce."