Graduation Day

More than 200 Columbus College of Art & Design students graced the stage of the historic Ohio Theatre to receive their diplomas on Saturday, May 14, 2011.

The 132^nd annual spring commencement, in downtown Columbus, included an address by commencement speaker and CCAD alumnus Mike Altman. (Download a  pdf copy of his address.)

The 2011 class valedictorian is Sean Blanton and the college awarded the following 10 students with the distinction of Outstanding Senior.

Ken Aschliman, Fine Arts

Sean Blanton, Photography

Jordan Edwards, Advertising & Graphic Design

Graham Erwin, Illustration

Justin Highlander, Interior Design

Taehee Lee, Media Studies

Carolyn Martin, Fashion Design

Chelsea Mummert, Animation

Phong Nguyen, Illustration

Ryan Slicer, Industrial Design

Check out photos from commencement and more on the CCAD Alumni facebook page.

Senior Ryan Slicer was named Outstanding Senior for the Industrial Design department.

At the end of the academic year, a graduating senior from each major is named the Outstanding Senior for that department. Today in part nine of our 10-part series, we interviewed s

enior Ryan Slicer (CCAD 2011), who was named Outstanding Senior for the Industrial Design department.

Q.) What’s it feel like to graduate with not one but two job offers?
A.) It feels great. I feel like all the sleepless nights and long hours were worth something in the real world.

Q.) What’s the ultimate dream job?
A.) The ultimate for me is pretty simple. I just want to design new solutions for existing problems. As long as I am able to do that, I will be happy. Eventually, I would really like to start my own firm here in Columbus.

Q.) Do you remember a single point that made you sit back and say, “This is why I am doing this?”
A.) Actually receiving this award. I think this means the most because it’s validation from the faculty that I have done well in the program.

Q.) What smell always reminds you of your time here as a student?
A.) Definitely the smell of walnut sawdust. Junior year I built a dining room table from walnut, and the shop and I smelled like sawdust for weeks. It smelled wonderful.

Q.) What are you going to miss most about CCAD?
A.) Everyone sitting down in room 108 on the cintiqs. We would stay down there together for days it seemed, laughing. The people here are great.

Q.) Finish the sentence. The best class at CCAD was…
A.) ID302 with Joel Gundlach.

Q.) What was your favorite thing to do on the weekends?
A.) Put away all my stuff to spend time with my wife—as long as there was no presentations the following week.

Q.) Any advice for future CCAD students?
A.) Take it upon yourselves to see that you are successful.

Ryan’s Coroflot portfolio is available here.

2010 graduates and families outside The Ohio Theatre

In honor of the 233 students who will receive diplomas at CCAD’s 132^nd annual spring commencement, we’ll be counting down the days to commencement by publishing interviews with our 10 Outstanding Seniors and we’ll be announcing the class valedictorian(s).

And while we don’t know who is at the top of the class just yet (final grades are yet to be submitted), we do know who has been named the outstanding seniors for 2011. They are: Jordan Edwards, Advertising & Graphic Design; Chelsea Mummert, Animation; Carolyn Martin, Fashion Design; Kenneth Aschliman, Fine Arts; Graham Erwin, Illustration; Phong Nguyen, Illustration; Ryan Slicer, Industrial Design; Justin Highlander, Interior Design; Taehee Lee, Media Studies; and Sean Blanton, Photography.

Also coming along for the commencement ride is alumnus Mike Altman (CCAD 2000), who will deliver the commencement address. Altman worked as a technical director in modeling and articulation on Pixar’s Academy Award winning Toy Story 3 and was also responsible for modeling and articulating all the 3D characters for Day & Night, the short at the beginning of the film, which was also nominated for an Academy Award. Learn more in our blog, Alumnus, Pixar Animator Slated to Deliver Commencement Address.

Check back Monday, May 2 as we introduce you to Illustration senior Graham Erwin. We’ll publish one a day (on school days) through Friday, May 13.