President's Lecture Series

CCAD President's Lecture Series: An event series hosted by Columbus College of Art & Design President Melanie Corn

When Dr. Melanie Corn joined Columbus College of Art & Design in 2016, she collaborated with CCAD students, faculty, and staff to identify the Core Values of the institution. The President's Lecture Series launched in 2018 to celebrate the college’s 140th anniversary and highlight the college’s Core Values of Positivity, Respect, Accountability, and Inspiration. 

All events in the President’s Lecture Series—and all of CCAD’s Visiting Artists & Scholars Series—are free and open to the public and are designed to welcome the Columbus community into our creative home. 

  2023 Speaker 

Nicole Fleetwood portrait

President’s Lecture: Dr. Nicole Fleetwood
Thursday, April 6, 2023 | 6 p.m.
Columbus College of Art & Design, Canzani Auditorium
Free and open to the public
Advance registration requested

Fleetwood is the inaugural James Weldon Johnson Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication in the Steinhardt School at New York University, where her work focuses on Black diasporic art and visual culture, photography studies, art and public practice, performance studies, gender and feminist studies, Black cultural history, creative nonfiction, prison abolition and carceral studies, and poverty studies. She is also the author of 2015’s On Racial Icons: Blackness and the Public Imagination and 2012’s Troubling Vision: Performance, Visuality, and Blackness. Her writing appears in African American ReviewAmerican Quarterly, ApertureArtforumCallaloo: Art and Culture in the African DiasporaGrantaHyperallergicLitHubThe New York TimesPublic BooksPublic CultureSignsSocial Text, art catalogues, and edited anthologies. Learn more at ccad.edu/fleetwood

 

 


 2022 Speaker

Dori Tunstall portrait

President’s Lecture: Dean Mitchell
Thursday, Sept 22, 2022 | 6:30–7:30 p.m.
Columbus College of Art & Design, Canzani Auditorium
Free and open to the public

Hailed by Forbes as “America’s Most Underappreciated Painter," Dean Mitchell (Illustration, 1980) joins CCAD for a conversation about his creative approach and body of work. Mitchell is well known for his figurative works, landscapes, and still lifes. In addition to watercolors, he is accomplished in other mediums, including egg tempera, oil, and pastels. His work has been featured in a number of publications, including The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, American Artist, Artist Magazine, Fine Art International, and ARTnews. His art can be found in corporate and museum collections across the country. Learn more at ccad.edu/mitchell.

 
 

2021 Speaker

Dori Tunstall portrait

President’s Lecture: Dori Tunstall, PhD
Thursday, Nov. 11 | 6:30-7:30 p.m. (EST)
Online
Free and open to the public.
Advance registration required. 

Dori Tunstall, PhD, is dean of the faculty of design at Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto, Canada and the first Black person—and first Black woman—to be dean of a faculty of design anywhere in the world. Dr. Tunstall has been featured in such publications as Fast Company, Deem, and Azure, and will join CCAD as part of the Visiting Artists & Scholars series via Zoom to discuss her mission to redesign design education in an effort to decouple the practice from colonialism and create design with respect.

 

 


2020 Speaker

yanoe portrait

President's Lecture: Ryan “Yanoe” Sarfati
Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020 | 6:30 p.m. (EDT)
Zoom Online
Advanced registration is required. 

Columbus College of Art and Design President Melanie Corn hosts a conversation with Los Angeles-based artist Ryan “Yanoe” Sarfati about healthy creativity and how it leads to creative excellence. Sarfati co-created The Journey, one of Columbus’ tallest and most innovative mural projects, in the summer of 2019 in the Short North Arts District. He will describe his journey from a graffiti artist to one working in the fine arts and providing commercial work for such clients as Apple, Facebook, Google, Headspace, Netflix, Nike, and Urban Decay. He’ll share how he uses tools such as meditation and sobriety to support his rigorous practice and maintain physical and emotional health. The event is free and open to the public and is part of the CCAD President's Lecture Series, launched by Dr. Melanie Corn to celebrate CCAD's 140th anniversary and Core Values. Attendance is limited and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Advanced registration is required. Click here to register to attend. Those unable to attend can view a recording of the discussion on Virtual CCAD after Sept. 14, 2020. 

 

 


2019 Speakers

david gelles portrait

President’s Lecture: David Gelles on mindfulness and the arts
Wednesday, Sept. 25 | 6:30 p.m.
CCAD Canzani Center Auditorium,
60 Cleveland Ave.

Join CCAD President Melanie Corn as she hosts a lecture and Q&A with New York Times writer and author David Gelles on “mindfulness and the arts.” From the sculptor’s studio to the concert hall, mindfulness and meditation have emerged as essential tools for artists of all mediums, fueling them with inspiration and giving them enhanced focus. Gelles’ 2015 book Mindful Work brings together his 15 years of meditation practice and his work as a business journalist, shedding light on how business leaders have discovered that meditation can be key to fostering a happier, more productive workplace. The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.

 

Portrait of Thi Bui against black backdrop

President's Lecture Series: Thi Bui

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 | 6:30 p.m.
CCAD Canzani Center Auditorium

With support from Puffin Foundation West, Columbus College of Art & Design President Melanie Corn hosts a conversation with Thi Bui, author of The Best We Could Do, CCAD’s most recent reading selection for first-year students. Bui, who was born in Vietnam, will talk about coming to the United States as a child with her family as part of the “boat people” wave of Southeast Asian refugees. Bui is a faculty member of the MFA in Comics program at California College of the Arts and lives in the Bay Area. The Best We Could Do is her debut graphic novel. The event is free and open to the public and is part of the CCAD President's Lecture Series, launched by Dr. Melanie Corn to celebrate CCAD's 140th anniversary and core values.

Portrait of Jeni Britton Bauer posing outside of a building

President's Lecture Series: Jeni Britton Bauer

Thursday, April 11, 2019 | 6:30 p.m.
CCAD Canzani Center Auditorium

Columbus College of Art & Design President Melanie Corn hosts Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams founder Jeni Britton Bauer for a conversation about resiliency in the face of conflict, and using her artistic background to forge her own path to success in business. The CCAD Board of Trustees member is an ice cream maker, entrepreneur, and New York Times–bestselling author. Britton Bauer founded Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in 2002. Her first cookbook, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home, won a James Beard Award in 2012. Today, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams is a Certified B Corporation with 34 scoop shops nationwide, an online shop, and distribution in top grocery stores across the country. The event is free and open to the public and is part of the CCAD President's Lecture Series, launched by Dr. Melanie Corn to celebrate CCAD's 140th anniversary and core values.


2018 Art. Design. Values. Speakers 

Inspiration
Accountability
Bree Newsome

Filmmaker & Activist Bree Newsome

March 21, 2018 | 6:15 p.m.
Canzani Center Auditorium

 

Bree Newsome revolutionized a social movement when she tore down a confederate flag at the South Carolina statehouse. To kick off the Columbus International Film & Animation Festival at CCAD, she’ll discuss that life-changing event and how to make exciting work that aligns activism with art.

Free and open to the public.

Julie Lythcott-Haim

Author Julie Lythcott-Haims

Sept. 20, 2018 | 6 p.m.
Canzani Center Auditorium


Julie Lythcott-Haims is the author of the New York Times bestseller How to Raise an Adult and the new memoir Real American. She writes about the responsibilities we have to one another as parents, neighbors, and citizens.

Free and open to the public.


 

Positivity
Respect
Sara Abou Rashed

Poet Sara Abou Rashed  

Aug. 27, 2018 | 10:30 a.m.
First Congregational Church

The war in Syria forced Sara Abou Rashed to Ohio in 2013. Her inspiring poetry about the tragedies and joys of what awaited in this new world has earned many accolades, including a Pushcart Prize nomination. She'll speak at CCAD's fall 2018 convocation

Art Sign

Behavioral Intervention Team Training

May 21 – 23, 2018
Canzani Center

 

CCAD & Columbus State Community College welcome our colleagues in higher education to a conference to learn best practices and share strategies for safer and more respectful school cultures.