ATLANTA – A co-founder of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is being awarded a Presidential Citizens Medal Thursday at a White House ceremony.
President Joe Biden named 20 recipients of the award this week, including Paula Wallace, 76, who launched SCAD in 1978 with her then-husband, Richard Rowan. She became the private college’s president in 2000 and continues to serve in that role.
The Presidential Citizens Medal is awarded to U.S. citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.
SCAD, a private college, now numbers more than 17,000 students, with campuses in Savannah and Atlanta, as well as study abroad opportunities in Lacoste, France, and other locations. The school also offers online degrees.
“A lifelong educator and trailblazer of the arts, Paula Wallace dreamt of a school that would transform how we think about professional education,” according to a White House news release. “By establishing the esteemed Savannah College of Art and Design and serving as its president, she has guided thousands of students into creative industries.”
The list of Presidential Citizens Medal recipients includes several well-known politicians, among them former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming who lost her seat in Congress after serving on the House committee that investigated then-President Donald Trump’s role in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who chaired the January 6th Committee.
Other prominent former politicians receiving medals include former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, a New Jersey Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for his party’s presidential nomination in 2000; former Sen. Chris Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut; and former Republican Sen. Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas.