A banner year at Portfolio Day!

More than 150 people turned out for the morning review at our Portfolio Day on April 20th—our largest attendance to date. This year's event was also noteworthy for:

• Largest class to date — 20 students;
• First graduating class to have the benefit of our newest faculty member,  Assistant Professor Meena Khalili, who started in 2016, and joins Graphic Design Program Head Steven Skaggs and Power Agency Designer-in-Residence Leslie Friesen;
• Most design scholarships awarded — six;
• First Michael L. Power Award to Outstanding Senior in Graphic Design given.

Thanks to our generous donors, six rising seniors received scholarships

This was the first year we awarded the Michael L. Power Scholarship in Graphic Design. The scholarship, made possible by the bequest from the late Michael Power, was presented to by David Power, CEO of the Power agency, to Michael Chou.

Daniel Stewart Design Scholarships, funded by a generous gift from Dan and Kate Stewart, were given for our second year. Four students — Henry Kerns, Lianna Lamorena, Cheyenne Nolan, and Luke Parker — received their scholarships from Dan Stewart, president of Stewart & Associates.

This year's recipient of the Welch Printing Scholarship in Graphic Design is Joyce Chen. Bob Gaeta, (now retired) Vice President of Welch Printing, was on hand to make the presentation. We also recognized Bob for his ongoing support of our program, both through his position at Welch and through his personal donation for the BoB (Best of the Best) Awards at Portfolio Day.

Outstanding Senior in Graphic Design

This is also the first year the the Hite Art Institute has an award specifically for a graphic design BFA graduate, which was made possible by the bequest from Michael Power. David Power presented the Michael L. Power Outstanding Senior in Graphic Design Award to Carol deLucca. Carol not only received this recognition, but her Honor's Thesis project, Cultura / Tipo / Marca | Culture / Type / Brand, was awarded best Honor's Thesis in the Humanities Division.

For this year's mystery judges for the portfolio recognition awards we tapped two alums for our 2003 BFA class — the first inaugural Portfolio Day class. Amanda Brown, Senior Graphic Designer at INgrid Design and Dan Barczak, Partner and Chief Creative Officer at Hyperquake in Cincinnati, shared the difficult task of picking award winners from an outstanding senior class.

Carol deLucca was named Outstanding Senior in Graphic Design, an award funded by a bequest from the late Michael L Power.

Kaytie White won the Gold BoB (Best of the Best) Award. The BoB Award is funded by Bob Gaeta, Vice President at Welch Printing.

Jake Schultz was the winner of the Gold Red Beret Award. The Red Beret Award is selected by alums of the BFA program.

BoB Award Silver winners were Kylar Ware, Emi Jones, and Aaron Mivelaz. was selected for a Silver BoB Award. And Amber Kleitz received a Red Beret Silver Award.

To see the work of all of this year's Portfolio class, visit their websites:

Thanks again to our the donors:

• The Estate of Michael L. Power for an endowed gift that funds scholarships, visiting designer lectures / workshops, and the award to the outstanding senior in graphic design.
•  Power Agency for an annual donation that provides significant underwriting of the Designer-in-Residence position.
• Dan & Kate Stewart for an annual donation for the Daniel Stewart scholarships in design.
• Welch Printing for their annual scholarship donation.
• Bob Gaeta for his annual donation for the Bob Awards

Graduating with their true graphic design colors, this year's portfolio class continued a tradition started by the class of 2017 — Pantone chips on their mortar boards.