Savannah College of Art and Design

Mission Statement

The Savannah College of Art and Design exists to prepare talented students for professional careers, emphasizing learning through individual attention in a positively oriented university environment.

International Role

At SCAD, art and design are recognized as elemental to all aspects of life, from a product’s user experience to the aesthetic values of an interior environment. Through every program across all SCAD locations, SCAD students explore the functional and creative facets of human interactions and experiences. Whether creating products, defining services or articulating ideas in any given medium, SCAD’s students explore the sensibilities and technologies of design and the cultural, social and relational truths of art. At SCAD, students learn to be adaptive thinkers, to create with all these factors in mind—from the perspective of the artist, craftsman, designer, marketer, client, user, customer and engineer. SCAD fosters innovation, facilitates professional relationships, and encourages active engagement, collaborating with corporations, municipalities other institutions around the world to bring students the global perspective they need to thrive in their future careers and economies.

National Role

At both U.S. locations, Savannah and Atlanta, Ga., SCAD has infused the surrounding communities with inspiration and activity. In Savannah, SCAD has helped revitalize the city through the preservation and rejuvenation of more than 70 facilities embedded throughout the city’s renowned National Historic Landmark Districts, and, in 2011, completed the SCAD Museum of Art—a contemporary art and design museum spanning more than 82,000 square feet of exhibition, installation, classroom, theater and social space. In Atlanta, SCAD has enlivened the city’s Midtown area with its expansive main facility at 1600 Peachtree St., the cutting-edge Digital Media Center, and the historic Ivy Hall as a cultural arts and writing center. At both locations, SCAD hosts signature events that not only support the cultural and educational activities of the surrounding areas, but that are regional and national attractions for diverse audiences and leading art and design professionals. Some of these annual events include the Savannah Film Festival, SCAD Fashion Show, deFINE Art, SCAD Seen, the Ivy Hall Writers Series and the Game Developers eXchange (GDX). Recent guests include Alec Baldwin, Margaret Atwood, Hal Rubenstein, Joel Cohen and Fred Wilson. SCAD also sponsors a wide range of collaborative projects for its students, with the SCAD Collaborative Learning Center (CLC) facilitating creative partnerships with major companies for which students earn course credit while garnering invaluable professional experience. Recent CLC project partners include Hewlett-Packard, Whole Foods Market, Fisher-Price, Liberty Mutual and Microsoft. In addition, the university’s annual Career Fair brings dozens of top employers to SCAD each year, heightening SCAD’s national profiles to yield the best possible career opportunities for its students and alumni.

Main Focus

SCAD has an express mission of preparing talented students for professional careers, combining a commitment to individual attention with expansive opportunities for learning and real-world experience. SCAD offers more than 40 degree programs housed in eight different academic schools:

1. School of Animation and Motion
2. School of Building Arts
3. The De Sole School of Business Innovation
4. School of Creative Technology
5. School of Design
6. School of Fashion
7. School of Film and Acting
8. School of Fine Arts
9. School of Foundation Studies
10. School of Liberal Arts
11. School of Visual Communication

Programs span diverse disciplines that range from architecture, graphic design and fashion marketing and management to painting, writing, and themed entertainment design—with program offerings varied by location and modality. SCAD is one university encompassing four distinct experiences:

1. SCAD Atlanta,
2. SCAD Lacoste,
3. SCAD Savannah and
4. SCADnow (Online Education).

Students can easily transition between any of the four campuses, providing them with the opportunity for a truly rich educational experience.