Crystal Windham can still remember the day she decided to attend the College for Creative Studies (CCS).

“I was fortunate — I had excellent college options,” said Windham (Industrial Design ’94). “My parents said, ‘This is up to you. This is your decision where you want to go.’”

Since they’d saved for her and her brother to attend college, she hadn’t needed to base her choice on finances. Unlike other schools she was accepted to, CCS hadn’t offered an initial scholarship — although that support would come during the second semester of her freshman year.

Windham always realized what a gift her parents had given her, and she aimed to do the same for her children, both college students. But in 2025, the executive director of Global Industrial Design at General Motors went one step further — endowing a scholarship to give a talented student the opportunity to realize their dreams at CCS.

Besides the minimum gift requirement, Windham made an additional contribution so the endowment could begin distributing funds right away. She chose to do this with a retention scholarship, meaning it can be renewed for up to three years, helping CCS retain the student.

Windham felt strongly that the scholarship not fully cover tuition. This was partly inspired by her own work-study experience in the Transportation Design department, which changed the course of her studies — and her life.

She recalled how one day, Carl Olsen, the department chair, had watched her sketch a still life for homework. He’d asked, “Have you ever thought about drawing cars?”

When she replied that she hadn’t, Olsen had told her that both women and people of color were underrepresented in that design area. He’d then offered to pay for Windham to take an introduction to automotive drawing class to see if she liked it.

“I fell in love,” she said of automotive design. “It was a product that would impact the lives of so many people. I didn’t look back from then on.”

After being accepted into the program, Olsen found scholarship funds for Windham — but still, not a full ride. She acquired an internship her sophomore year with Ford Motor Co., and then with General Motors her junior year. GM put her right in the design studio where she learned about designing interiors and then, before graduation, offered her a full-time position.

Windham hopes her scholarship gives recipients a similar CCS experience. “It really does mimic what was offered to me to keep me going,” she says. “You have people communicating to you that you belong, you have the talent, and here’s a little to help you along the way.”

By focusing her scholarship on marginalized applicants, Windham hopes to continue diversifying her industry. “If we can help support more people of color, more women through this endowed scholarship to feed that pipeline, I think it’s a win-win for all,” she said. “They don’t necessarily have to look exactly like me, but industries like to reflect their customer base — and we’re their customers.”

Although establishing a scholarship had been in the back of Windham’s mind for years, she never considered it a real possibility until a peer shared about endowed scholarships. Then serendipitously, a family member with personal knowledge about endowments reviewed the process and encouraged her to “just get started.”

“It’s so meaningful to get to a point in life where I could do it, and I have my husband, who supports me,” she said. “My children support me. I’ve talked to them, and they understand the importance of this and why I have allocated some of our funds to do that.”

Windham’s family also understands the impact CCS has had on her — something she hasn’t taken for granted since day one. “I still believe choosing CCS for an art-based career was one of the best decisions I made in my life,” she said.

www.ccsdetroit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/CCS_classphoto_1994-2-scaled.jpg Crystal Windham, Industrial Design alumna, during her time as a CCS student.

www.ccsdetroit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/CWcurrentresized-1.png Crystal Windham in her current role as Executive Director of Global Industrial Design at GM.