CCS has named internationally recognized automotive designer and distinguished alumnus (BFA 1987) Paul Snyder to lead its undergraduate program in Transportation Design, starting with the winter 2015 semester. Snyder will return to CCS to become the Paul and Helen Farago Chair of Transportation Design responsible for all aspects of undergraduate education in Automotive Exterior, Automotive Interior, and Transportation Design, including aeronautic, marine, ground, and emerging mobility systems. He will additionally oversee the Professional Automotive Modeling (PAM) Certificate Program and be responsible for developing and maintaining close industry contacts and monitoring trends in a global context. Snyder comes to CCS from Honda Research and Development in California where he leads teams of designers, clay modelers, and data modelers in the creation of advanced and production design projects for the US and global markets. For 25 years he has designed cars and trucks for major world markets for a number of automotive brands, including Ford, Lincoln, Renault, Honda, and Acura.
“The College for Creative Studies is recognized as a global leader in transportation design education and places more graduates in automotive design positions around the world than any other school,” said Richard L. Rogers, president of CCS. “Paul Snyder has the perfect profile for the Farago Chair: great distinction as a designer, broad international experience, deep industry knowledge, and a love and talent for teaching. His background will enable CCS students to attain the highest-level design skills and be prepared for the many changes and challenges emerging in the realm of mobility. I’m delighted he’s returning to the College.”
“With so much exciting change and optimism about the future, it’s a fantastic time to return to CCS and Detroit,” Paul Snyder said. “The facilities at CCS in the Transportation Department are extraordinary, and the opportunity to study among the global giants of the industry is second to none for transportation design students.” Snyder added, “Detroit itself has become a pretty hip place to be, so I’m thrilled to be a part the CCS team again, and to play a role in shaping the design leaders of tomorrow.”
Snyder’s experience spans four continents and encompasses both exterior and interior development. He has worked in a variety of capacities in corporate design departments as well as in a consulting role. From 1987-1992, he worked at Ford Motor Company where he designed exterior and interior solutions for the Taurus/Sable and Explorer production vehicles, as well as contributing to the Ghia Via concept. As senior designer at Design Club International in Japan from 1992-1995, he worked on projects for Renault. He returned to Ford in 1999 as a lead project designer where he oversaw projects for the Taurus X, Ford Five Hundred, Ranger, and Flex production vehicles. Since 2005, Snyder has worked at Honda where he has most recently been assistant chief designer, overseeing production and concept projects for the Civic, Accord, Crosstour, Odyssey, Tokyo Motor Show EV-Ster Concept and Honda AC-X Concept theme vehicles, as well as a 2013 Acura RL vision theme.
From 1990-2003, he also taught at the college-level, including transportation design and visual communications at Pratt Institute in New York City, as well as a range of undergraduate and graduate classes at Wayne State University and CCS. Courses Snyder taught at CCS include visual communication for industrial design, undergraduate transportation design, color theory, drawing, painting, and figurative sculpture.
“Paul Snyder is highly regarded as a top designer and leader in the automotive industry. His breadth of experience and fresh perspective are sure to prove invaluable to the CCS community, the local creative economy, and transportation design as a whole,” said Sooshin Choi, provost and vice president for academic affairs for CCS. “With Paul Snyder at the helm, I believe that the CCS Transportation Design program will clearly be the premier program in the world.”
In addition to his work as car designer, Snyder is an accomplished figure painter, sculptor, and collagist, having earned a Master of Fine Arts degree cum laude in fine art and cultural studies from the New York Academy of Art in New York City where he has also shown his work.
