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Alumni

Joseph V. Canzani Alumni Award for Excellence

Congrats to Aaron Szymanksi, 2009 AAE Recipient

Aaron Szymanski, class of 1991, was awarded the 2009 Alumni Award for Excellence during CCAD's annual homecoming, May 15. He was nominated by Taylor Sears.

Aaron co-founded Evo Design in 1997. The company is a full service new product design and strategy firm. The common denominator in the firm’s work is the approach: seeking a vision of what the product should be, not just today, but for the future.

Evo Design has won numerous design awards, including an IDEA Silver, iF Product Design Award, silver prize in the Opus Design Award, platinum Award for Design Excellence (ADEX), first place design award in Carnegie Corp’s "What’s Your Vision" design competition, Universal Design Award from the American Society on Aging, Toy of the Year from Parenting Magazine, grand prize winner at the Shonan World Design Awards, and honorable mention in both the Spark Awards and the Green Dot Awards.

In 2007, in an effort to promote eco-design, Aaron created a royalty partnership with Recycline to produce a line of 100 percent recycled/100 percent recyclable kitchenware products. The line of products was recognized with a 2009 Green House Award by HomeWorld Business and is available in Target and Whole Foods stores.

Aaron teaches a sustainable design course at NYU and guest lectures at MIT, RISD, Yale, Pratt Institute, and the National College of Art and Design in Ireland. Web site: www.evodesign.com

Congratulations to All 2009 Nominees

David Flaherty
Paula Froehle
Helen Hoffelt
Roxanne Holonitch
Jerry McDaniel
Thomas Post
Paitoon Ratanasirintrawoot
Aaron Szymanski

Award Guidelines

  • Nominees must be an alumnus/alumna of CCAD or a CCAD associate alum.
  • Only one award will be given each year.
  • Previous recipients of the Alumni Award for Excellence and the CCAD Alumni Award (see listing below) are not eligible.
  • Please prepare a thoughtful, compelling and complete nomination. The information you provide will be shared with the nomination committee and/or used to compile online nomination summaries.
  • The award process is very competitive.
  • Alumni who are CCAD faculty are eligible for the Alumni Award for Excellence, however, there is another option for honoring them. Please read about CCAD's Award for Teaching Excellence.

Selection Criteria

  • Nominee's accomplishments as they pertain to artistic excellence.
  • Impact the nominee has had on a broad spectrum of people or significant advancements nominee has made to the art and/or design field.
  • Nominee's exemplification of the CCAD brand (exceptional work ethic, extraordinary craftsmanship, innovation).

Previous Honorees*

2008 Joan Hall (’74) Fine Arts
2007 Ron Tsang ('83) Industrial Design
2006 Jeff Link ('69) Advertising & Graphic Design (awarded posthumously)
2003 William "BJ" Van de Velde ('61) Advertising & Graphic Design
2002 Charles O'Connor ('62) Industrial Design
2001 Dean Mitchell ('80) Illustration
2000 Edmund Kuehn ('38) Fine Arts
1999 Wucius Wong (‘65)
1994 Dean Mitchell ('80) Illustration
1994 James C. Lutz ('78) Advertising & Graphic Design
1994 Linzy Randolph
1993 Mary Lou Alpert ('56-60)
1992 Ruth Anne Johnson, (‘65 – ‘70) Illustration
1992 Chris Snell ('72) Advertising & Graphic Design
1991 Daniel Thomas Chrzanowski ('70) Illustration
1991 George Gaadt ('66) Illustration
1991 Dean Kette ('59)
1991 George Kinney
1991 Ann Rothan ('92) Fine Arts
1990 Arthur Klemushin ('66) Illustration
1990 Doug Anderson ('42) Illustration
1990 Ming Fay ('65) Industrial Design
1990 James F. Lutz ('78) Advertising & Graphic Design
1990 Beverly Jane Niffenegger ('77) Advertising & Graphic Design
1990 Marcia Tabler ('74) Retail Advertising
1989 Kenneth Harry Batista ('75) Fine Arts
1989 Robert Bender ('66) Advertising & Graphic Design
1989 George Radway ('38) Fine Arts
1989 Clyde Singer ('34)
1989 Wucius Wong ('65)
1988 Stanley Ray Corfman ('60) Advertising & Graphic Design
1988 James Grimes ('63) Industrial Design
1988 Margaret Lynn ('35)
1988 Thomas O'Donnell ('55)
1988 Jack Shinn ('42) Fine Arts
1988 Marilyn Skeffington ('69) Advertising & Graphic Design
1987 Frank Hoffelt
1987 Dorothy Neill ('37)
1987 Charles O'Connor ('62) Industrial Design
1987 Bernard Stockwell ('48) Industrial Design
1987 B. J. Van de Velde ('61) Advertising & Graphic Design

* Beginning in 1999, honorees received the Joseph V. Canzani Alumni Award for Excellence. Between 1987 and 1994, honorees received the CCAD Alumni Award.