Category Archives: Alumni Relations

Awards Honor Exceptional Alumni

Each December, the College and Office of Alumni Relations present the Art Center Alumni Awards to three outstanding alumni.

The winners, chosen by the Art Center community, are recognized during the Fall Term graduation ceremony.

Photo by Lara Warren

We are honored to announce the following Art Center Alumni Award winners at Saturday’s commencement:

  • Doyald Young ADVT ’55, awarded the Lifetime Achievement Alumnus Award in recognition of his dedicated work as an educator and lifetime of legendary work in typography, logotypes and alphabets.
  • Stephanie Sigg GRAD ID ’98, awarded the Outstanding Service Alumni Award in honor of her humanitarian design impact through her work with various NGOs, nonprofits and cause-related campaigns.
  • Geetika Agrawal GRAD ID ’05, awarded the Young Alumni Innovator Award in recognition of her passion and accomplishments in social media, digital culture, physical interactive art and new technologies.

Congratulations to our alumni for these well-deserved marks of distinction!

Reflecting Back at 80: Alumni Relations

Annual meeting of Society of Art Center Alumni at the Sportsmen's Lodge in North Hollywood (1963)

Guest post by Art Center Archivist Robert Dirig

Art Center’s alumni have always been an important part of the College, but the Office of Alumni Relations wasn’t formed until the ’60s—and it looked much different than it does today.


Ninth Annual Meeting of the Society of Art Center Alumni, known as the "Fall Roundup" because of the Western theme (1969)

The Society of Art Center Alumni was formed and incorporated in 1960. While support for the Society was provided by the College, it was a separate organization with a budget based in annual dues.

The aim of the Society was to form a network of alumni by creating alumni directories, distributing newsletters, organizing regional chapters and planning exhibitions.

One particular goal was for alumni to be more active with Art Center and help support and strengthen the curriculum and policies.

During the ’70s, the Society’s most important activity was a juried exhibit of alumni work for which they produced a catalog. During this era, the annual meeting was an opportunity to showcase the alumni work created during the previous year.

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Putting Alumni Relations to Work for You

Career Resource Workshops are free to alumni and offer opportunities for networking and polishing presentation skills.

Calling all Art Center alums: Do you know what your Office of Alumni Relations can do for you?

Sure, when you think Alumni Relations, you probably think networking and social events. But two new alumni programs deserve special mention: career resource workshops and a mentorship program for entrepreneurs.

Read more: New Directions for Alumni Relations

Outer Circle is Here!

The latest issue of Outer Circle, our biannual online alumni magazine, is here!

The 80th anniversary issue of Outer Circle shares alumni memories and photos from the last 80 years, outlines a new direction for Alumni Relations, remembers faculty member and alumnus Norm Schureman, checks in with alumni fundraising group Legacy Circle, and much more. The gorgeous cover was created just for us by Illustration alum Andrew Holder.

Check it out: artcenter.edu/outercircle.

It’s All Good: Designmatters Brings Innovative Guests to Campus

A major component to the mission of Art Center’s Designmatters Department, which invites students from all disciplines to address humanitarian and social challenges, is to lead “an ongoing exploration of design as a positive force in society.”

Part of this exploration takes place in the field—Designmatters has organized dozens of projects, including the recent Safe Agua Chile, in which students developed systems for storing, transporting and conserving water in impoverished Chilean neighborhoods—but another part happens right here on campus.

Special events give students the chance to meet provocative and inspirational individuals who are using design to make a real difference.

Two recent Designmatters-sponsored events at Hillside Campus did just that.

On January 28, Designmatters and Acting Chief Academic Officer Nik Hafermaas presented “Leading Change for Social Impact: Perspectives from Prominent Innovators,” a forum moderated by Adlai Wertman, professor at the USC Marshall School of Business.

The panelists for the evening event in the Ahmanson Auditorium included Mariana Amatullo, vice president and director of Designmatters, who highlighted several recent departmental projects; Rhys Newman, head of strategic projects at Nokia Design, who explained how he uses his company’s extraordinary global reach to push environmental initiatives; and Jonathan Greenblatt, founder of Ethos Water and the open-source All for Good volunteering website, who discussed the business models behind his ventures and the power of the Web to effect social change.

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Awards Honor Exceptional Alumni

Each December, the College and Office of Alumni Relations present the Art Center Alumni Awards to three outstanding alumni. The winners, chosen by the Art Center community, are recognized during the Fall Term graduation ceremony. We are honored to announce the following Art Center Alumni Award winners:

  • Kenji Ekuan PROD ’57, awarded the Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award in recognition of his professional and creative accomplishments with his design company, GK Design Group. Founded in 1957, it is Japan’s largest design consultancy.
  • Michael Osborne GRPH ’78, awarded the Outstanding Service Alumni Award in honor of his humanitarian impact through his nonprofit design studio, Joey’s Corner. Named in honor of his late son, Joey’s Corner provides pro bono, strategic creative services to nonprofit groups focusing on health care, children’s issues and social causes.
  • Eric Benjamin Nyquist ILLU ’07, awarded the Young Alumni Innovator Award in recognition of his notable professional and creative innovation working with a range of clients including NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Goldie Cosmetics, Walt Disney, Heineken USA, VIBE magazine, Jeep, Lexus and Wall Street Journal Magazine.

Congratulations to our alumni for these well-deserved marks of distinction!

Design Revolution Road Show Rolls Onto Campus Monday

Monday promises to be quite an exciting day at Hillside Campus, thanks to the Design Revolution Road Show. The traveling exhibition, book tour, lecture and workshop series is bringing “product design that empowers” to more than 30 design universities and high schools across the nation. A Project H Design initiative, the road show features a biodiesel-powered truck and Airstream trailer filled with tangible examples of humanitarian industrial design solutions (also showcased in the book Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People).

The all-day exhibition, presented at Art Center in collaboration with Designmatters, Alumni Relations and GOOD, will feature a lecture by Emily Pilloton, founder and executive director of Project H Design. The airstream trailer will be parked in front of the main entrance at Hillside Campus, open for viewing from noon until 10 pm. An evening reception will be held starting at 6 pm. You don’t want to miss this!

Design Revolution Road Show
Monday, February 8
Art Center’s Hillside Campus

Open exhibition times: Noon-10 pm
Evening reception: 6-10 pm