Alumni admired the view from the Acock Gallery windows during the 2010 Homecoming celebration.

For years, we’ve celebrated Homecoming for a few hours during the annual student exhibition. This year, we’ve decided to give you, our alumni, more time to reconnect with your classmates and more attention from all of us at CCAD—which is what it’s all about, right? So we’re inaugurating Homecoming and Family Weekend on Friday, October 7, through Saturday, October 8, a weekend full of activities for alumni, current students, and their families.

But we need your help to plan it. In order to make this all about you, we’re putting together a Homecoming Committee to help us decide everything—from the events we host to the order in which we host them. Members of the Homecoming Committee will meet once a month (via conference call) to make plans and share ideas. The only true requirement of the Homecoming Committee is that all members attend the event and bring their alumni friends along (you made it happen, after all!)

Interested? Contact us.

Four-times-more alumni took this survey than they did the last. Thank you to all of our participants!

We thought you’d like to hear back on how the 2010 Alumni Survey went. In a word—great. We nearly quadrupled the participation rate since our last survey. And while that was really reassuring, the best part was getting to know our alumni better. Here’s what we found out.

CCAD alumni:
Are everywhere. Sixty years worth of graduates from all majors responded to the survey. They live in 36 of the United States and seven other countries (including one alum who responded from an RV he is driving around the U.S.!)

Are involved. We asked which events you plan to attend in 2011. The ones with the highest anticipated attendance: the student exhibition, art sales, and homecoming.

Care about current students. Almost half of all respondents said that if they made a financial gift, they’d give it to financial aid for students, and more than 60% said they’d be willing to counsel current students with advice on their career paths and personal lives.

Want to get connected. 146 alumni from 2000–2010 said they would appreciate being mentored by an experienced alum. The best part? 139 alumni from 1999 or earlier said they’d be willing to mentor them (see above).

Are happy. More than 96% of respondents said they were satisfied with their overall experience at CCAD.

Director of Career Services Cynthia Gravino has the following opportunities available to alumni.

My first piece of advice to any alum looking for career help is: call me! The Career Services Office wants to see all CCAD students succeed in their careers, which is why we offer all our services to alumni as well as current students. Whether you’re looking for a new job, hiring new talent, or just need some advice, we’re here to help.

Finding a new job
If you’re looking for a new job, we can meet with you one-on-one to help you review your career goals and objectives, develop an overall strategy to identify and apply for positions that meet those goals, and prepare your application materials (cover letter, resume, and more). There are many job postings on www.ccadcareers.com, as well as additional job search resources readily available in our Career Services Office.

Going to graduate school?
We offer workshops on how to apply to grad school. We also have a graduate school resource center in the Office of Career Services with grad school catalogues and application materials. We work closely with students to develop a strategy on schools to which they would like to apply.

Need a transcript? Request one online.

Looking for interns or new hires?
Each year, CCAD hosts internship and career fairs to help our students find positions. They’re a wonderful opportunity for alumni to give back to their alma mater by offering a job or internship opportunity to current students. And rest assured, our students are prepared. All participating students in the Internship Fair and Directions Career Fair have been fully registered with our office, have had at least one one-on-one career strategy and planning meeting, and have an approved resume and cover letter.

Interested in career advice?
If you’d just like a little advice on your career path, we’ll meet with you one-on-one to go over your personal career plan and strategy. We also provide workshops and offer guidance to accessing the proper resources.

For more information about any of these offerings, please contact the Career Services Office.

Add the following dates to your calendar.

As an alum, you are offered tons of opportunities to reunite with your classmates and reengage with CCAD through our programs and events. Since that event listing is just so huge, we figured we’d narrow it down for you and share just a few of our favorites:

April 16—Spring Art Sale
Come check out the fantastic work of your fellow alumni and our current students. Want to sell some of your work? Keep an eye on our Facebook page for the specifics.

May 13—Student Exhibition and Senior Fashion Show
Want a free ticket to the Senior Fashion Show? Become a member of our ticket committee and invite others to the show. Contact us for more information.

October 7–8—Homecoming and Family Weekend

For a complete list of upcoming events, check out our event listings.

Alumnus Dean Mitchell (CCAD '80) exhibited at the Canton Museum of Art in Canton, OH.

One of the big changes we’ve made recently is to take Alumni Classnotes out of IMAGE magazine and bring them to you on our CCAD News Blog. We do our best to make sure most of the news our alumni submit to us ends up there, but since there are more than 10,000 of you making news all over the world, it’s a tough job to keep up with it all. Ultimately, not everything can make it into CCAD News. What doesn’t, ends up here.

We’ve also changed how you can submit classnotes. Now when news happens, let us know via the easy-to-use form on the alumni landing page. We only post career-related successes, awards, exhibitions, and publications, but we’d also love to know when you move, get married, or have children—just use that same form.

Now, without further ado, your classnotes from July-December 2010.

Career successes and awards
KATHLEEN (RIVERS) LANDES ’77 is a July 2010 artist in residence at the Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe NM.

JON HAIR ’79 was recently honored by the city of Shanghai for his artistic contribution to the city’s efforts to revitalize its downtown theater district. In addition, his contemporary sculpture “Lucky 8” was commissioned by the city of Beijing and the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee and is now permanently installed at the Beijing International Sculpture Park.

JIM WEITZEL ’79 recently launched a new website and completed a steel sculpture for the grounds of Cooperris, a community based mental health program in western NC.

MATTHEW KASER ’84 received a multi-year Interpretive Design contract from the Texas Historical Commission for two historical sites. M. Kaser & Associates, Inc., was also awarded a contract with the US Army Corp of Engineers to design and produce an indoor and outdoor interpretive program at the Port Allen Navigation Lock in West Baton Rouge Parish LA.

KURT FONDRIEST ’85 had a selection of poetry published in the Winter 2010 issue of the Expressive Art Therapy Journal.

SANDRA (KESSLER) KAMINSKI ’93 recently accepted a position at the Pittsburgh Project located in Pittsburgh PA as visual arts instructor. Check out our blog for more information on Sandra.

ALYCIA (PARKER) YATES ’99 recently received her teaching license in Art Education from Ohio State University and is working toward her Master’s degree.

DAVID CROSLAND ’00 was selected as one of the winners in ArtSlant’s sixth juried Showcase of 2010 for his collaborative art piece “Booty & The Beast.” David also illustrated Yo Gabba Gabba! Comic Anthology. Find out more here.

MARIANO SANTILLAN ’00 had his comic book Seven Citadels released as a mobile comic by Robot Comics for iPhones, iPads and Droid devices.

KRISTI VALIANT ’00 has illustrated the recently published picture books The Goodbye Cancer Garden, Do You Love Me More?, Oliver’s First Christmas, and Dancing Dreams. She has also recently become the Regional Advisor of the Indiana region of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

ELIZABETH WEISSBROD ’04 received a MA in Medical Illustration from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in May 2010. She now works for the Corbin Company as a medical illustrator/animator at the Uniformed Service University of the Health Sciences – Simulation Center in Bethesda MD.

STEVEN WEINZIERL ’05 recently completed projects for Nickelodeon, MTV, Discovery, and HBO through his Art Directing position at Click 3X. He also worked on Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” music video.

ALEXANDER KWAPIS ’06 recently accepted a position as Creative Director at Fusion Packaging, located in Dallas TX.

HAZEL TARR ’07 assisted with Shadowbox’s first three-week Summer Intern Bootcamp, Sketch Comedy Fest, and collaborative, “Seven Deadly Sins.”

MICHELLE DICK ’08 created custom hair accessories for the Vera Wang trunk show in July 2009. Her company, Mimi’s Closet, sells items at Big Rock Little Rooster in Columbus’s Short North.

EDEN (HUTCHINSON) WHITSETT ’08 currently owns and operates a tattoo and body piercing shop in Marion OH called Bettie’s Body Shop: Custom Tattoos and Body Piercing.

NICHOLAS CAVALIER ’09 accepted an editor position at Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago IL.

BARBARA BENAS ’10 is part of the official selection of artists featured on Cartoon Brew TV’s first annual Student Animation Festival, with her short Always, Only, Ever. The festival features work by emerging talents from around the world. The film has also been accepted into the Animation Block Party at Rooftop Films in Brooklyn NY. The Animation Block Party is New York City’s premiere animation film festival.

BERNADETTE CARSTENSEN ’10 was selected as to receive a full-ride scholarship to attend IlluXcon 3 in Altoona PA in November 2010.

KARTIKA MEDIANI ’10 has been accepted into the Animation Block Party at Rooftop Films in Brooklyn NY with her film, “Breath.”

Exhibitions
BERNARD BEN PEARCE ’70 Trinidad’s National Musuem, Port of Spain, Trinidad.

KATHLEEN (RIVERS) LANDES ’77 Istvan Gallery, Oklahoma City OK.

WALTER KING ’81 Walter King: Midwest Dialog, Fort Hayes Shot Tower Gallery, Columbus OH.

DANIEL DAY ’86 Colosseum Fine Arts, La Jolla CA.

PAUL HAMILTON ’88 Paul Hamilton: Poetry of Place, Decorative Arts Center of Ohio, Lancaster OH.

CHRISTOPHER GASTON ’90 and DOUGLAS BLACK ’90 Three Roads to Mashiko, MIDORI, Mashiko, Japan.

SANDRA (KESSLER) KAMINSKI ’93 State of the Art, State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg PA.

JAMIE SNELL ’94 Star Wars Celebration V, Orange County Convention Center, Los Angeles CA.

ROBERT ENGLERT ’96 Edge of Art New York State Artists Series: Designed to Scale, Everson Art Museum, Syracuse NY.

ROXANNE HOLONITCH ’97 Core Fitness Studio, Columbus, OH.

JONATHON REESE ’98 and SALEM REESE ’08 The Reunion Show, Art Outreach Gallery, Youngstown OH.

JAMES BAKER ’02 Wild Thing, Roberts & Tilton, Culver City CA.

RYAN OREWILER ’04 The Language of Art, Carnegie Gallery at Columbus Metropolitan Main Library, Columbus OH.

MANJARI SHARMA ’04 Elements of Water, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins CO; PAANI, Richard Levy Galley, Albuquerque NM; SULTRY II, DUMBO, Brooklyn NY.

ANDREW STATTMILLER ’05, Mischief, Studio Gallery, San Francisco CA.

ANDREW INA ’06, BORYANA RUSENOVA INA ’06 Landing, Art Access Gallery, Columbus OH.

MICHELLE DICK ’08 ArtPrize 2010, Peaches Bed & Breakfast, Grand Rapids, MI.

MALLORY McCLELLAN ’10 Savage Gardens, Franklin Park Conservatory, Columbus OH.

EMILY RICKARD ’10 Material Collections, Wild Goose Creative, Columbus OH.

In the news
DEAN MITCHELL ’80 “Paintings by Dean Mitchell,” recave.com.

LAURA (PATTERSON) SANDERS ’88 CMH magazine.

MANJARI SHARMA ’04 Pdnedu magazine.