When I received the notification of this award, I was speechless. My time at Miami University was unique and life-changing. My experiences with my professors and fellow students were extraordinary.

Beginning my college career at the Middletown Campus, I had the opportunity to work with Professors Mike Heiber and Gary Wheeler. Both were integral in my training as a creative, but also as an educator. Their examples prepared me as I moved on to the Oxford campus of Miami University where I studied Illustration with C.F. Payne.

As I gave my lecture and acceptance speech, I looked out into the audience and saw old and new friends, members of the college community, the community at large, along with my professor, Mike Heiber. What a joy to come full-circle in the place where it all began.