MIAD: To confer honorary doctorate on Will Allen, founder and CEO of Growing Power, Inc.

Vivian M. Rothschild
Director of Communications
414.847.3239 (cell) 414.507.7364
vivianrothschild@miad.edu

The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design will confer an honorary doctorate on Will Allen, founder and CEO of the internationally renowned Growing Power, Inc., at the college’s commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 15, 11 a.m., at Centennial Hall.

Allen is the only Milwaukeean to receive a “genius grant” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for transforming his vision of a holistic urban farm providing healthy food, education and jobs to an underserved community into a national training center for activists in the community food movement and a research institution creating food production models that can be exported internationally.

He has advised President Barack Obama’s transition team on agricultural policy and will bring his food production model to South Africa and Zimbabwe as part of the Clinton Global Initiative of former President Bill Clinton.

“Through his vision and problem solving, Will Allen transcended a practical, everyday problem with an innovative solution that, from its origins in 1993, has grown to embrace the urban needs of local communities in the United States and the world,” said MIAD President Neil Hoffman. “His resourcefulness, determination and humility hold lessons for the power of one person, armed with a creative idea, to truly effect change at the most fundamental human level.”

MIAD students are actively involved in Growing Power through the college’s Service Learning Program; for almost ten years, many students have chosen the organization to fulfill their community service requirement.

More than 130 students will receive their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree this year from MIAD, Wisconsin’s only fully accredited, independent, four-year college of art and design. Their senior thesis projects will be on view from April 16 – May 15 at the 2010 MIAD Senior Exhibition, the largest exhibition of its kind in the state.

MIAD is a degree-granting college where individuals discover and realize their creative potential. Founded in 1974 as Wisconsin’s only fully accredited, independent college of art and design, it enrolls 680 talented students from across the country who are taught by artists and designers recognized regionally and nationally for their professional and educational accomplishments. Its unique academic approach blends curricular and extracurricular experiences, a community service course requirement, and Liberal Studies in 11 majors toward the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. With 80% of its graduates using their innovative skills in Wisconsin, the college contributes a vital “brain gain” to the state that shapes its creative and economic future.