NEW YORK – Savannah College of Art and Design President Paula S. Wallace was honored with the first ELLE DECOR Vision Award Monday, Nov. 17, at the inaugural Women In Design event, co-sponsored by ELLE DECOR and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Held at the Harold Pratt House in New York City, the event celebrated outstanding female achievement in the fields of architecture, communications, fashion, interior and product design.

“What an honor! This is huge, getting something like this from ELLE DECOR and Cooper-Hewitt, two of the world’s great standard-bearers of design,” said Wallace. “I’m sure they have the wrong person. They say I have vision. I don’t know. If that’s true, I suppose it’s because I’m entirely unable to think about anything but the future for SCAD. It’s my life’s work, my magnum opus—and the best job in the world.”

An academic visionary, Wallace co-founded the Savannah College of Art and Design in 1978. Thirty years later, SCAD is the nation’s most comprehensive art and design university, offering more degree programs and specializations than any other art and design university in the United States. The university’s more than 9,000 students study at campuses in Savannah and Atlanta, Ga., Lacoste, France, and online via SCAD-eLearning.

Under Wallace’s leadership, SCAD was named the “Hottest for Studying Art” among “America’s 25 Hottest Colleges” by Kaplan/Newsweek, and was recognized as one of “America’s best colleges” and “America’s best graduate schools” by U.S. News and World Report.

Wallace also created many of the university’s most innovative academic and outreach programs, including SCAD Style, a full month of style and design events including lectures, exhibitions, trunk shows and book signings. SCAD Style begins every year with the Étoile Awards in New York, where the university annually honors important figures in style and design.

Wallace has advanced the SCAD legacy of historic preservation and its commitment to renewing urban landscapes through an impressive series of restoration projects in the medieval village of Lacoste, in Midtown Atlanta and in the historic district of Savannah. Most recently, SCAD restored a 19th-century synagogue, several historic public school buildings, the oldest extant railroad depot in the United States, and a mansion considered to be the oldest, most complete and single most important representation of Atlanta’s storied New South, post-Civil War period—transforming them into thriving homes for SCAD academic programs. This commitment to the building arts has earned awards for SCAD from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Art Deco Societies of America, the American Society of Interior Designers, and the American Institute of Architects.

“For some, design is merely decoration, but for women in design, it is so much more—it is essential,” said Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief of ELLE DECOR. “This award is about recognizing women such as Paula who are making their mark in a field historically dominated by men. Paula isn’t just changing the course of the design world, but is helping to change the world itself. That’s why she is the perfect person to receive our first ELLE DECOR Vision Award.”

Wallace’s vision has been lauded by many other leaders in the art and design world as well. “I am extremely impressed by the fact that one woman had a vision and she made it happen, and is helping so many people,” said Diane von Furstenberg, acclaimed designer and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Added Tom Ford, president and CEO of Tom Ford International, “The vision of this woman who founded this school is incredible. It is absolutely mind-boggling.”

In addition to the award ceremony, the Women in Design event featured a panel discussion with several leading women in design, including architect Annabelle Selldorf, interior designers Bunny Williams and Celerie Kemble, and fashion designer Cynthia Rowley.

The evening also featured the unveiling of pieces from finalists in the Rado Design Competition, in which talented SCAD female students and alumnae were asked to envision a design specific to their field using Rado’s Ceramica collection of timepieces for inspiration. In addition to a trip to New York City and a watch from the collection, the winner will receive a feature in both ELLE DECOR and the Rado newsletter.

For more information on the first annual Women in Design awards event, visit www.elledecor.com/womenindesign.