At the Teaching Excellence ceremony, from left to right, Kevin Conlon, James Lutz, Mark Hazlerig, Stewart McKissick, and Denny Griffith

Professors Mark Hazlerig and James Lutz received CCAD’s Teaching Excellence Award and Professor Ronald Tardino, who is retiring this year, was honored in an event on April 18 in the Canzani Center atrium.

Each year CCAD recognizes an outstanding faculty member for excellence in teaching—and this year the college gave the honor to two faculty members. The award celebrates the exemplary efforts faculty members contribute to the college as a whole, using the classroom setting to engage and enhance students’ experiences.

The recipients were selected after receiving 57 nominations, which were solicited from students, alumni, faculty, and staff.

Hazlerig, a CCAD alumnus, graduated with a degree  in Advertising & Graphic Design in 1974 and received his degree in Illustration in 1977. Lutz is also an Advertising & Graphic Design alumnus, graduating in 1978.

Hazlerig has taught at CCAD for 39 years teaching classes ranging from lettering and packaging to illustration and welding. He also is a freelance illustrator with clients including the state of Ohio, General Electric, and Hallmark Cards.

Student nominators said that Hazlerig “makes you answer your own questions as you work and go through the design process” and “encourages experimentation and independence.”

Ronald Tardino speaks during the April 18 ceremony

Lutz has served as a faculty member at CCAD for 19 years and is the current chair of the Advertising & Graphic Design department. He also is the senior designer and owner of Lutz Design Group LLC that has clients including Ohio Health Group, South-Western City Schools, and the Ohio Department of Mental Health.

Student nominators touched on his ability to provide opportunities for students to get them on the right career path. One student commented that he is “always trying to get students involved with each other, and really pushing us to network and advance ourselves.”

After Hazlerig and Lutz received their awards, Stewart McKissick, professor and chair of Illustration, honored Tardino talking about his years of service to the CCAD community. Tardino, an Illustration alumnus, has taught at CCAD since 1971.  He helped establish the Directions Career Fair, a reverse career fair where potential employers come to check out the work of CCAD students. He is also a liaison for Walt Disney Studios and has served as an instructor and adviser to CCAD’s Art Explorer Post 407 program, guiding high school students interested in art careers.

REFLECT: by James Lutz Associate Professor, Advertising & Graphic Design, & Mark Burleigh, Assistant Professor, Advertising & Graphic Design

By Duncan Snyder, Associate Professor, Photography and Graduate Studies, and President of Faculty Council

Over the past year, the faculty of CCAD has worked together to describe in detail the processes we use for teaching and learning here on campus. The last step in this work was to hone all that description and detail into a sort of manifesto we call the Learning Goals. It’s just seven simple words.

Create – Communicate – Connect – Reflect – Master – Risk – Impact

Whether you attended CCAD decades ago or are studying here now, whether you’re a member of the CCAD family or a distant associate, we think you’ll recognize these words (and more importantly, the actions behind the words) as a representation of who we are, what we expect, and what we aspire to at CCAD.

I personally think of the Learning Goals as a tool—a rudder, a shield, or even a Swiss Army knife. Whether in the classroom or the individual studio, in collaboration with others or out in the community, students and professors alike can use these goals to foster the CCAD spirit. Across campus, students and faculty are discovering the power of using these ideas on a daily basis and beginning to build a collective discussion on their experiences.

But even if you never set foot on campus, I think you’ll find the Learning Goals coming to mind the next time you meet a CCAD graduate. What makes them just a little bit different? It’s these seven words.

EDITOR’S NOTE: CCAD faculty members were invited to contribute images to represent each learning goal (all images are reproduced with permission). Click any image below to see it in full.