Savannah College of Art & Design’s president Paula Wallace started the new year with a visit to the White House Thursday.
As one of this year’s 20 recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal, she made her way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to accept the honor from President Joe Biden. The honor recognizes U.S. citizens, who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or fellow citizens. “President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others. The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice,” according to a statement issued by the White House.
In that statement, Wallace was described as a lifelong educator and trailblazer of the arts, who “dreamt of a school that would transform how we think about professional education. By establishing the esteemed Savannah College of Art and Design and serving as its president, she has guided thousands of students into creative industries.”
The Savannah College of Art and Design 2023 fashion show.
Courtesy of SCAD
The other recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal are attorney and activist Mary Bonauto; former New York Knick and former U.S. senator Bill Bradley; Navy Seal and pioneering innovator in dive medicine Frank Butler Jr.; former congresswoman and vice chair of the committee on the Jan. 6 attack Liz Cheney; lawyer, diplomat and former congressman and senator Christopher Dodd; Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation’s founder Diane Carlson Evans; former senators Nancy London Kassebaum and Ted Kaufman; former congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy; photographer Bobby Sager; women’s rights advocate Eleanor Smeal; Civil Rights advocate and Congressman Bennie Thompson; Fulbright University Vietnam founder Thomas Vallely; National Breast Cancer Coalition president Fran Visco, and marriage equality advocate Evan Wolfson.
In addition, civil rights advocate Louis Lorenzi Redding, “soldier’s reporter” Joseph Galloway, former state judge Collins Seitz, and Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi, who fought to end the incarceration camps that imprisoned Japanese Americans in World War II, were honored.
The school was founded in 1978 by Richard Rowan, Wallace, May Poetter and Paul Poetter to provide college degree programs not previously available in southeast Georgia and to create a specialized professional art college to attract students from the U.S. and abroad. The curriculum was established with two goals in mind — creating an excellent arts education and effective career preparation for students. SCAD is an accredited, nonprofit, degree-granting university. The school now has multiple locations such as campuses in Savannah and in Lacoste, France, and online distance education offerings. Before becoming president, Wallace served as SCAD’s provost, vice president, and academic dean.
The reception for the “L’esprit de SCAD” exhibition in Lacoste in 2019.
Chia Chong/Courtesy of SCAD
The school also stages exhibitions at the SCAD Museum of Art and at the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film with current ones being “Dan Flavin: Works From the Dia Art Foundation” on view in Savannah and “Sandy Powell’s Dressing the Part: Costume Design for Film” being shown in Atlanta. Through the years, Wallace has attracted top-shelf talent like André Leon Talley, Diane von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld, Zac Posen and Oscar de la Renta among others to visit the school and connect with SCAD students.
