The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes the significant achievements of a talented and committed group of individuals. Recipients of this award are design professionals representing each of the curricular patterns of the College. They are individuals who have made significant contributions to new insights, fostering original ideas and searching for added knowledge.
In the spring of 2000 an alumni medallion was produced for presentation to the Distinguished Alumni recipient. This medallion is inspired by the early influence of the Bauhaus on design education at NC State University. It is influenced by the continuing emphasis within the College on the capability to craft by hand as parts of the necklace were fabricated in the College of Design shop. The medallion represents the application of principles into product, just what the College of Design has held as an important virtue.
Alexander Isley is president of Alexander Isley Inc., a Graphic Design Consultancy in Redding, Conn., and New York, NY.
Retail graphic program for the John G. Shedd Aquarium Gift Shop, Chicago
The Shedd Aquarium and Frederic Schwartz Architects invited us to collaborate on the redesign of the Shedd Aquarium gift shop. An exciting part of the project was working with Judith Bacal, a College of Design classmate who was an exhibit designer at Shedd.
We worked in creating the graphic approach for the shop, which has an underwater theme. Our involvement included determining the color palette for the space and designing the murals and oversized fixturing elements for the store. We created designs for large pink Lucite panels cut to the shape of coral, which glow as if they are under water. Within the bookstore section we selected passages from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Treasure Island and Moby Dick, coupling them with period engravings on large translucent panels to suggest stylized books.
Throughout the store we placed text containing educational and otherwise interesting facts about marine life, which addresses an important part of my personal design approach. I believe that it is not enough to conjure up a pretty design; I think the most successful designs leave an audience coming away with added knowledge or a more informed point of view. In this way this retail environment serves to provide a bit of education.
This assignment allowed me to do some things that are close to my heart: work in collaboration with people I respect and apply our design approach to architectural spaces. In our retail and exhibit work we get a chance to venture beyond the realm of the printed page, and I find this to be very exciting.
Monty Montague, IDSA, is nationally recognized for both product development and identity design accomplishments, and he is BOLT’s Design Principal. In this position he leads multidisciplinary teams in comprehensive development programs including product and brand strategy, market and user research, industrial design, human factors evaluation, environmental design, graphic design, engineering, and production coordination.
BOLT’s clients include contemporary office furniture companies such as Herman Miller and Allsteel, consumer products manufacturers such as GE Lighting and Dirt Devil, medical equipment companies such as Hill-Rom and CheckMed Systems, and retailers such as Lowes Stores and Harris Teeter.
Montague helped found BOLT in 1985 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The firm was selected in 1994 by ID Magazine as one of its “ID Forty” highlighting the “top 40 design innovators in the United States.” Montague holds a variety of design and utility patents and has received numerous international design awards including four Gold IDEA Awards from IDSA/Business Week Magazine – considered the “Oscars” of the industrial design profession. His design work has been published by journals in Europe and the U.S; he has written for various publications including the Design Management Journal and IDSA Innovation; and he has lectured widely at universities and industry forums.
Montague is the co-founder of the Carolinas Chapter of IDSA. He holds a Bachelor of Product Design degree with honors from North Carolina State University and received the School of Design’s Distinguished Alumni Award for 1999.
John L. Atkins, III, FAIA, was born and raised in Durham and attended NC State, serving in student government for three years, including as student body president during his senior year. He earned a bachelor's degree in architecture from NC State in 1966. He went ont to earn a master's degree in regional planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1970.
Atkins is President and Chief Executive Officer of O'Brien/Atkins Associates, a multidisciplinary design services firm he co-founded in 1975. Located in Research Triangle Park, O'Brien/Atkins has grown to an 80-person firm specializing in the design of large-scale, commercial projects. Examples of the firm's work are: RDU Airport Terminal C; RDU Airport Terminal A and Terminal A Interim Gates, Cisco Systems Offices/R&D Buildings 1 through 15; WorldCom Network Management Center and Administration Building in Weston; and Biogen BIO 24 Lab/Administration Building and parking deck. Services offered are architecture, interior design, MEP engineering, landscape architecture/planning and construction administration.
In 1998, O’Brien/Atkins Associates was named the inaugural winner of the American Institute of Architects-North Carolina Firm of the Year Award. This statewide award is the highest honor bestowed by AIA-North Carolina. John received the prestigious honor of being elected to the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows in 1992. Fellowship in the AIA is the highest honor bestowed upon architects by the organization that recognizes significant contributions to the profession and society.
Atkins' leadership has continued to evolve at NC State. He was a founding member and former chair of the NC State Board of Visitors, and is a member of the board of trustees of NC State's Endowment Fund. He also served on the Chancellor Selection Committee that selected former chancellor Marye Anne Fox, and is a member of the Wolfpack Club. In 2003, Atkins was honored by NC State University with the highest nonacademic honor bestowed by the university, the Watauga Medal. John is also involved with the College of Design. He and his partner William O’Brien, FAIA, funded the O'Brien/Atkins Endowed Fellowship at the School (now College) of Design, and he is a former president and member of the executive committee of the college's Design Foundation. He currently serves as co-chair of the College of Design Achieve campaign committee. Atkins was recognized by the College of Design as its 2005 Distinguished Alumnus.
Atkins' service to the community includes co-founding both the Research Triangle Regional Partnership and the Greater Triangle Regional Council. He has also been involved with the N.C. Partnership for Economic Development and the Economic Development Coalition 2000. He has served on the board of directors of the N.C. Biotechnology Center and Wachovia Bank & Trust. He is also past president of the Durham Chamber of Commerce. In 2001, he was inducted in the Phi Kappa Phi honorary society.
Franklin Bost grew up in Shelby, N.C., and completed his bachelor’s degree in product design from NC State in 1968. He then earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He completed the Tuck Executive Program at Dartmouth College and the Director’s College, a program offered by the University of Georgia and the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Bost is president of Porex Surgical Products Group in Atlanta. He has led the company from start-up to its current position as a leader in the facial biomaterial market. Porex is a globally focused business with sales in the United States and more than 40 countries worldwide. He developed and implemented U.S. and international marketing and sales programs for medical implantable devices, OEM medical, consumer and industrial components.
Porex product ad“Franklin Bost is in the business of restoring hope,” said Marvin J. Malecha, dean of the College of Design. “Through Franklin’s innovative leadership of Porex Surgical, which develops cutting-edge products for craniofacial reconstructive surgery, medical patients all over the world have been able to lead normal lives.
“At the College of Design and at NC State, Franklin gives of his time, expertise and resources to improve students’ educational experiences. Franklin is an alumnus who has combined his knowledge of design and business, as well as his spirit of community, to make a remarkable difference in the quality of life for countless people. We look to him as an example for our graduates to emulate.”
Before pursuing marketing, sales and business development strategies, Bost was a senior product development designer. He brought multiple new products from concept to successful commercialization. Bost is experienced in implementing quality management systems and international standards and certifications.
In addition to serving on the NC State University College of Design campaign committee, Bost is establishing a graduate fellowship in industrial design. He serves as an advisor to the industrial design department and presented at the Entrepreneurship and the Creative Spirit Seminar last year. Other service to the business and education communities include the university’s Graduate School Board of Advisors, the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Georgia Biomedical Partnership, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, AdvaMed and the Society of Biomaterials.
Bost was honored on Friday, Oct. 31 at NC State’s Distinguished Alumni Awards as the 2003 College of Design Distinguished Alumnus.
Natalie "Alabama" Chanin is best known as the co-founder of the American couture line Project Alabama. Her designs for hand-sewn garments constructed using quilting and stitching techniques from the depression-era south have been lauded for both their beauty and sustainability. Made from recycled materials by artisans located near Natalie’s home in Florence, Alabama, Project Alabama designs earned accolades from peers as a finalist for the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Fashion and was selected as one of 10 fashion companies for the Council of Fashion Designers in America/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2005.
In late 2006 Project Alabama ceased operations in Alabama. Natalie left the company and launched Alabama Chanin where she continues to create limited-edition, rendered-by-hand, jewelry, clothing, home furnishing and textiles using a mixture of recycled and organic materials with local talent. Based on the thought that good design should be a part of everyday living, Alabama Chanin gives modern context to techniques that have been passed down through generations of women and men.
The artisans who work with Alabama Chanin represent this generational span. Stitchers aged in their early 20s work alongside those in their late 70s, producing garments in the spirit of the traditional quilting bee. Each collection emphasizes quality of cut, detail, craftsmanship, and style and each piece is a labor of love signed by the artisan who hand-stitched every seam.
Natalie has a Degree in Environmental Design from the NC State University College of Design and was named its 2007 Distingushed Alumna. She works simultaneously as designer, manufacturer, stylist, filmmaker, mother, artisan, cook and collector of stories from her home in Florence, Alabama.
Philip G. Freelon, FAIA, LEED® AP
Phil Freelon founded The Freelon Group in 1990, Over the past 21 years, the firm has grown to 51 total staff including 21 licensed architects. Focusing on higher education, science & technology and museum/cultural center projects, Freelon’s firm has successfully delivered award winning building design within a collaborative and innovative studio environment. The firm has completed major museum projects in Baltimore, MD, San Francisco, CA, Greensboro and Charlotte, NC. The team of Freelon Adjaye Bond has recently been selected by the Smithsonian Institution to design the new National Museum of African American History and Culture to be located on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
Freelon's work has been published in national professional journals including Architecture, Progressive Architecture, Architectural Record, and Contract magazine where he was named Designer of the Year for 2008. Metropolis and Metropolitan Home magazines and the New York Times have also featured Freelon and his firm. The Freelon Group has received thirty-seven AIA design awards at the national, regional and state levels and has also received AIA North Carolina’s Outstanding Firm Award in 2001.
Freelon has served as an adjunct professor at the College of Design, North Carolina State University and has been a visiting critic and lecturer at Harvard, MIT, the University of Maryland, Syracuse University, Kent State University, the University of Cincinnati, Catholic University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, among others. In 1989, Freelon was awarded the Loeb Fellowship and spent a year of independent study at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Phil is currently on the faculty at MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning.
Freelon is one of 29 LEED® Accredited Professionals in his firm and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Freelon has served on numerous design award juries including the National AIA Institute Honor Awards for Architecture. He is also the 2009 recipient of the AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture and the 2010 recipient of AIA North Carolina’s Gold Medal.
A native of Philadelphia, PA., Freelon holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design (Architecture) from North Carolina State University's College of Design and a Master of Architecture from MIT.
Randy Hester, a professor at UC Berkeley, is founder of SAVE International. He is a former associate professor at NC State University and was once elected to the Raleigh City Council.
Two irrepressible forces underlie my work: the human desire for participatory democracy and ecological limits. There are many more democracies in the world today and resource limits are more critical, complex, and misunderstood. More than any other factors, democracy and limits shape public landscape design.
My vocation is to design for ecological democracy, which integrates design with nature and environmental justice. This necessitates a process-oriented design that depends on civic involvement and adaptive science-based environmental management. Ecological democracy focuses on multiple potentials and consequences of actions; interconnected thinking, community stewardship, voluntary inconvenience, systemic coselfishness, and conspicuous nonconsumption inspire each design decision. I have written about these ideas (see "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sustainable Happiness," Places vol. 9 #3 1995 and "Democratic Design in the Pacific Rim," Ridge Times Press, 1999) and tested them most recently in creating a greenbelt plan for Los Angeles, and a green economic plan for coastal Taiwan County in Taiwan. Both plans are based on spatial principles of conservation ecology and local social nuance. Every design action is politically motivated by some anthropocentric and too often exclusively economic bested interest. Environmental impacts on human well-being are poorly considered. My goal is to make environment and well-being central to the political choice.
The design implications of ecological democracy are straightforward. Inhabited place must have a center, a locally-derived character, a clear limited extent, and a permeable boundary via which critical resources and externalities are monitored for impacts on sustainability and justice. In the Los Angeles greenbelt, the driving force is creating a clear limited extent. In Tainan County, the primary force is choosing an economic future based on the distinguishing locally-derived character. Instead of a petrochemical industrial complex, we proposed a green economic alternative based on traditional fishing and agriculture with new ecotourism and technology industries placed carefully to avoid negative impacts on a rare bird, the black-faced spoonbill. We have waged a grassroots and international battle to implement this plan and are hopeful of a successful political resolution.
NC State University provided me the skills to design for an ecological democracy. The curriculum in landscape architecture required ecology and related courses long before that word was popularized. Courses in sociology grounded my thinking in social desire and incorporated the civil rights movement. Drawing developed spatial thinking that is my most important tool. But drawing is more than a tool of my vocation. The School of Design taught me that a day without drawing is a day diminished.
Richard Curtis is managing editor of graphics and photography for USA TODAY.
Since 1982, USA TODAY has looked basically the same. But a freshening of what used to be thought of as revolutionary was certainly called for as the paper heads into the new millennium. Advertisers, readers, and staff all thought the paper had become a bit stodgy and worn around the edges.
The original design, based on a 7-column grid, has evolved into today’s 12-column grid. What had grown over the years into a hodgepodge of typefaces is now simplified greatly into one typeface for headlines and text. The Page One nameplate shrinks a bit in the new design, yielding more precious space above the fold (the paper continues to sell a million papers a day in single-copy alone, so impulse buyers — influenced by the top half of the front page — are an important audience).
We have retained what readers like about the paper: conciseness, fairness, balanced reporting, a thorough national report, the ground-breaking full-color weather page, news from every state, simple presentation, strong graphics, color, and the most complete sports report available anywhere.
We have added what readers wanted more of: more news analysis, more in-depth and investigative reporting, increased financial news and sports news, a reformatted Life section to provide more news you can use, more graphics, and a greater focus in all sections on high tech and the new economy.
In the end, the redesigned national newspaper that debuted April 3, 2000, is intended to continue to serve almost six million daily readers. We publish at 35 domestic print sites, serving all 50 states, plus five international print sites. In the future: More print sites, increased circulation and advertising revenue, more news bureaus both in the USA and internationally, more pages, and a greater connection between the newspaper and the website version (www.usatoday.com).
Architect Richard Green, FAIA (B.Arch. 1968), was honored as NC State University’s Distinguished Alumnus from the College of Design for 2001.
“He has made significant contributions to the conduct of architecture with a wide variety of clients," said Dean Marvin J. Malecha. "He has always been generous with his time when it comes to students and interns, and he has been a regular visitor, lecturer and design instructor at the College of Design, helping to introduce an innovative model of case study education.”
Richard Green is chairman and president of The Stubbins Associates Inc., a design firm in Cambridge, Mass., that serves clients internationally. Since 1968, Green has designed many of the firm’s award-winning projects including the Treasury Building in Singapore. Among his awards for excellence in design is the 1972 Rotch Traveling Scholarship.
He has served as a lecturer, architectural and urban design critic and thesis advisor at Harvard University and has also lectured at Princeton, the University of Southern California, Notre Dame, NC State University, Arizona State University, the National University of Mexico and numerous other institutions. In addition, he has served on many regional and national design award juries.
Green received a Bachelor of Architecture with honors from NC State University in 1968 and was a Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Studies at Harvard Graduate School of Design from 1978-79.
Green's recent design portfolio includes several undergraduate science teaching facilities at colleges and universities across the nation including Carleton College, Duke University, University of Minnesota, Morris, Northern Michigan University, NC State University and the University of Chicago. In all of these facilities, the design emphasis has been to create buildings that respond to unique cultural, climatic and contextual influences as well as places that maximize interaction between students and faculty to provide an animated, energetic setting to transfer existing information as well as generate new knowledge.
Rodney L. Swink, FASLA, is a consultant to communities, firms and non-profits in the areas of downtown development and community revitalization as well as an adjunct faculty member of the NC State University College of Design. Previously he directed the North Carolina Main Street Center in the state's Department of Commerce for 24 years, leading downtown revitalization and development efforts statewide. His award-winning work resulted in more than $800 million of new investment in Main Street community downtowns during his tenure as director.
A registered landscape architect, Rodney has been active in the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) for more than thirty years serving as Chair of the Council of Fellows in 2008-2009, as ASLA national president in 2001-2002, and as ASLA Vice President for Policy in 1993-95. He received the ASLA President’s Medal in 2006 and The LaGasse Medal in 2008.
In 1998 Preservation North Carolina presented Rodney with the Robert E. Stipe Professional Award. More recently he was the recipient of the 2003 North Carolina Award from the N.C. Chapter of ASLA, the 2002 Frank B. Turner Award from the NC State Construction Office, and the 2001 Bramham/Marcus Humanitarian Award form NC Partners of the Americas.
Rodney has been active in his community serving as chair of the Raleigh Appearance Commission, as a founding member of the board of Scenic North Carolina, and on several other advisory boards including Preservation North Carolina and the NC State University Friends of the Gallery. He has served as president of North Carolina Partners of the Americas, a non-profit organization working with Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Upon graduation from NC State University with a Master’s degree in landscape architecture, Rodney went to work with the N. C. Division of Forest Resources where he helped create the state's urban forestry program. Rodney serves on the landscape architecture advisory board for both NC State University and for North Carolina A&T State University. He is a 2004 recipient of the "Wings on Wings" award of the NC State University College of Design and was recognized as its 2004 Distinguished Alumnus.
Ron Mace was a nationally and internationally recognized architect, product designer and educator whose design philosophy challenged convention and provided a design foundation for a more usable world.
He coined the term "universal design" to describe the concept of designing all products and the built environment to be aesthetic and usable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of their age, ability, or status in life.
He was also a devoted advocate for the rights of people with disabilities which is reflected in his work. He graduated from the School of Design at North Carolina State University in 1966 with a Bachelor's degree in architecture. After four years of practicing conventional architecture, he became involved in the effort to produce the first building code for accessibility in the nation. This code became mandatory in North Carolina in 1973 and served as a model for other states. Ron's pioneering work in accessible design was instrumental in the passage of national legislation prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities, the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 and The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
In 1989, Mace established the federally-funded Center for Accessible Housing, currently known as the Center for Universal Design, at the NC State Univeristy College of Design. He was also Research Professor in the Architecture Department. Under Mace's direction, the Center became a leading national and international resource for research and information on universal design in housing, products, and the built environment. Several of the projects Mace directed at the Center include the development of universal house plans for a modular home company; new universal designs for a thermostat, an adjustable toilet, faucets, and a multi-use modular bathing unit; and a number of design publications. Under his direction, the Center was a co-sponsor of "Designing for the 21st Century: An International Conference on Universal Design" held in New York in June 1998. At Ron Mace's last speech at that conference, he discussed the differences between assistive technology, barrier-free and universal design; he also described several examples of universal design.
Mace was also President of Barrier Free Environments, Inc.(BFE), an accessible design consulting firm, and a Principal of BFE Architecture, P.A. in Raleigh. At BFE, Inc. Mace consulted on accessibility issues for The Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; the design of a universal street toilet for JC Decaux of France; and the grounds and buildings at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. While at BFE, Mace also produced a number of publications on accessible design including The Planner's Guide to Barrier Free Meetings (1980), The Accessible Housing Design File (1991), The Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines Tech Sheet Series (1994-95), and Highlights of the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design Slide Show (1993).
Mace was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and received the Distinguished Service Award of the President of the United States in 1992 for service in promoting dignity, equality, independence and employment of people with disabilities.
Ron Mace will be remembered as a caring friend, a devoted advocate, an ingenious designer, a mentor, and a man of truth, integrity, and perseverance. His efforts have significantly impacted the world many ways-legislation requiring equal access for people with disabilities, design guidelines for accessibility, universal design solutions, and greater independence for people with disabilities and older adults.
The Ron Mace Memorial Fund has been established to help support design students with disabilities and to help carry out Mace's life work. Tax deductible contributions may be made to the Ron Mace Memorial Fund in care of the NC State University College of Design.
William Valentine, FAIA Chairman, HOK Bill Valentine is Chairman and Design Principal of Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK), a global architectural design and services firm.
A 46-year veteran of HOK, Bill serves as a vocal advocate for sustainability with employees and clients, as well as leading the design of several projects each year and developing strategies for pursuing new projects.
Bill’s diverse, award-winning design portfolio includes projects representing the Corporate, Education, Justice, Aviation, and Science + Technology sectors. Representative projects include the Biogen Idec Research and Development Campus in San Diego; Natural Sciences 1 and Natural Sciences 2 at the University of California, Irvine; Nortel Campus in Ottawa, Canada; Adobe Systems Inc. World Headquarters in San Jose; Levi’s Plaza in San Francisco; Microsoft Augusta Site Campus in Redmond, Washington; Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco; Phoenix Municipal Courthouse; and King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Throughout his career, Bill has been widely recognized for his ability to understand, formulate and respond to client needs and program requirements in a creative, individualistic and people-focused manner.
Within the design and construction industry, Bill actively promotes his definition of ‘good design’ as a simple idea, elegantly executed and inspiring, with social significance and in harmony with the environment.
Bill earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from North Carolina State University and a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University. A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, he is a frequent speaker and author on sustainable design topics.