Design and education. Two words that have driven John Manoogian’s life and career.
So when Manoogian recently read about former GM colleagues who had established scholarships at the College for Creative Studies, it sparked an idea. After a 35-year career in automotive design and years spent teaching the next generation of designers at CCS, this was another way he could give back.
“What better way to give back and help talented students?” he said.
Earlier this year, Manoogian established the John Manoogian II Endowed Scholarship to support aspiring Transportation Design students who might not have the financial means to pursue and complete their education.
The decision was a natural extension of Manoogian’s long relationship with design education and with CCS, a relationship that began well before the College had become the internationally recognized source of transportation design talent he knows today.
An Early Connection
After earning a bachelor’s degree in Product Design from Michigan State University, Manoogian landed a job as a clay sculptor at Ford Motor Company. But he still hadn’t achieved his goal of becoming a car designer.
Someone suggested he take a Transportation Design class taught by legendary designer and instructor Homer LaGassey at the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, now CCS.
At the time, Transportation Design classes were taught in the basement of an old house on Kirby Street. The program itself was just getting started and had not yet become the established source of design talent it would later be.
Manoogian enrolled in LaGassey’s night class and asked him for help developing a portfolio for admission to ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles.
“LaGassey had a powerful teaching method. He was a practitioner of tough love. He set the bar very high and expected his students to extend themselves beyond what they thought they were capable of. His exacting expectations helped transform my portfolio for entrance into ArtCenter, and gave us a taste of what to expect in real-life professional design studios.”
Manoogian’s work with LaGassey helped him take that next step. He was accepted to ArtCenter and graduated with honors.
From there, he joined General Motors Design, beginning a career that would span 35 years.
For more than 25 of those years, he also served on GM Design’s Portfolio Team, searching for and interviewing talented graduates to join the company. The experience took him to design schools around the world and gave him an unusual opportunity to evaluate both the state of design education and the students those institutions were preparing for the profession.
Over those same years, he watched the College for Creative Studies evolve.
“CCS had become a source of incredible design talent and had established itself as one of the premier international transportation design educational institutions,” Manoogian said.
After several years evaluating student portfolios, it became apparent to Manoogian that CCS had become an emerging source for design talent. The students not only possessed the technical drawing/design skills, but were being trained to be problem solvers and storytellers. Necessary skills for success in the professional design studios.
Returning to CCS
When Manoogian’s 35-year career at GM came to a close in 2009, he returned to CCS, this time as an adjunct instructor teaching senior Transportation Design students.
“Here was an opportunity to give back to the profession that I had been blessed with for so many years,” he said. “I could help and guide future mobility designers in preparing for the challenges facing them in the future.”
For Manoogian, preparing those students means developing more than technical skill.
“I believe problem-solving and the thinking process are key to providing well-rounded designers who will make meaningful contributions. CCS excels at developing that thought process, and I wanted to build on that discipline.”
He also sees an important advantage in where that education takes place. With CCS located in Southeast Michigan, students have access to generations of design talent and an industry that continues to evolve around them.
Creating Opportunity
For Manoogian, establishing an endowed scholarship brings together the two forces that have shaped his life.
A CCS class helped him take an early step toward becoming a car designer. His career gave him the opportunity to evaluate and hire emerging designers from around the world. Later, CCS gave him the chance to teach and mentor students preparing to enter the profession themselves.
Now he can help make that path possible for someone else.
“As an adjunct professor, I saw firsthand how the expense of completing a design education was a daunting prospect, and I wondered how I might help deserving, talented students reach their goals. A conversation with Dick Ruzzin made me aware of the possibility of creating a scholarship, and subsequently I read that Crystal Wyndham had created a scholarship. Those two made me aware of how I might help”
“My personal design journey had been anything but straightforward, so I thought I would do whatever I could to help an aspiring student reach their goals without the worry of financial constraints.”
“With my sponsored scholarship, I will have satisfied my desire to help the next generation achieve their dreams as I had been able to do,” Manoogian said.
His commitment to automotive design continues in another way as well. Manoogian is currently working on the development of a facility on Detroit’s riverfront celebrating the art of the automobile and the people who have shaped it. He sees that work as connected to educating future designers, preserving the legacy of the profession while helping inspire those who will carry it forward.
For Manoogian, it all comes back to the two things that have driven his life and career from the beginning.
Design and education. Full circle.
Interested in supporting students through a scholarship?
There are many ways to create a scholarship at CCS and shape it around what matters most to you. Contact Katie Rusak, Senior Director of Major Gifts, at [email protected] or 313.664.7861 to learn more.
