Paula Wallace biography

Paula Wallace founded SCAD in 1978 and is one of the longest-serving women presidents in the history of U.S. higher education. Since being named CEO in 2000, she has more than tripled enrollment, elevated the SCAD alumni employment rate to 99%, and led the creation of new SCAD locations in the U.S. (SCAD Atlanta) and Europe (SCAD Lacoste), as well as SCADnow, the university's innovative online learning platform. As the world's most comprehensive university for creative professions, SCAD currently enrolls more than 18,600 students.

Wallace established SCAD as a global leader of applied research through SCADpro, the university's in-house research lab, where SCAD students and professors produce new products and services for clients including Google, Deloitte, Home Depot, Volvo, BMW, NASA, Capital One, and hundreds of other Fortune 500 brands. Wallace has led the creation and establishment of four university museums on two continents, including SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film (Atlanta), SCAD FASH Lacoste (France), and the AIA Award-winning SCAD Museum of Art (Savannah), widely recognized as the top teaching museum in the world.

As a lifelong educator, Wallace devotes herself to uplifting both new and celebrated voices through her award-winning podcast ("On Creativity"), as well as "SCADclass," an educational series featuring SCAD professors. As the founder of SCAD SERVE, Wallace has transformed the university's long history of service to its hometown communities in the U.S. and France, applying the university's collective creative brilliance to address needs in the areas of food, housing, clothing, education, safety, and sustainability. In 2021, with the opening of The Lofts on Pulaski (renamed The Lorlee), SCAD became the world's first university to provide affordable workforce housing for frontline workers in its community.

Wallace's impact on the creative industries is vast. Across her more than 45 years at SCAD, she has led the creation of more than 100 academic degree programs—many the first of their kind—including, most recently, the M.A. and M.F.A. in sneaker design, the new Master of Business Innovation (M.B.I.), and two degrees launched in collaboration with Google: a B.F.A. in user experience design and a B.F.A. in user experience research. She has conceived and created the SCAD Savannah Film Festival (the world's largest university-run film festival), SCAD TVfest, SCAD AnimationFest, SCAD deFINE ART, and the legendary SCAD Fashion Show, among other signature showcase events at the university, all of which are designed to launch the careers of SCAD students.

She is the author of several books, including The Bee & the Acorn, a memoir, and Lessons in Leadership. In 2025, she was a recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second-highest civilian award in the United States—recognizing individuals who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country and fellow citizens. She has been named an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects and a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French Embassy to the U.S. In recognition of her legacy of the adaptive rehabilitation of historic architecture, she has been awarded the National Trust for Historic Preservation's highest honor, the Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award, and is the first woman to be named a Georgia Trustee since the founding of the Georgia Historical Society in 1839.

Paula Wallace

President and Founder of the Savannah College of Art and Design