The Bee and the Acorn: A Memoir

“In 1977, the world was ready for something new,” writes Savannah College of Art and Design president and founder Paula Wallace.

“All around us, dreamers were dreaming up new ideas: Star Wars, The Clash, Apple. I was nearing thirty and ... wondered if I could do more.”

What happened next would change the face of higher education. An engaging, moving, and inspiring memoir, The Bee and the Acorn traces the journey of Wallace and her family to the historic Georgia coastal town of Savannah, where they set about creating a new university for the arts. The tiny college would be a radically different kind of institution, buzzing with progressive ideas about what education could be and what it should do for students. Nearly forty years later, SCAD has become one of the largest and most highly regarded arts universities in the world.

Established in 1978, the Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit, accredited university, offering more than 100 academic degree programs in 42 majors at locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Hong Kong; Lacoste, France; and online via SCAD eLearning. SCAD enrolls more than 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 100 countries. The university’s innovative curriculum is enhanced by professional-level technology, equipment, and learning resources, as well as opportunities for internships, professional certifications, and collaborative projects with corporate partners. In 2014, the prestigious Red Dot Design Rankings placed SCAD in the top ten universities in the Americas and Europe.