Assistant Professor Bruce C. Morrill will retire from the School of Visual Communication Design (VCD) at Kent State University after nearly 25 years of distinguished service.
Morrill has taught freshmen through senior level courses, as well as coordinated curriculum and instruction of the Introduction to Visual Communication Design and Introduction to Typography courses. Almost every VCD undergraduate student in the last two decades has received the direction and guidance of Morrill, whose diligent training and compassionate critique has fostered academic rigor and creative growth.
“I had an instructor say to me once, that you can't teach creativity but you can encourage it,” Morrill said in his faculty biography. “I believe it is my role as an instructor to try to get the best from my students by being enthusiastic about successful student discoveries and to provide an honest appraisal of the student's work as it develops.”
“My role as an instructor is to explain the rules, goals, possibilities and limitations implied by the nature of our profession, and provide instruction in the possible ways of solving a visual communication problem.”
“Bruce was first hired by Kent State University in 1989 and has been instrumental in providing design education to many of our most celebrated alumni. He will certainly be missed,” Director of the School of Visual Communication Design AnnMarie LeBlanc said.
“Just last week as I was reviewing the spring teaching evaluations and I came across this quote by one of Bruce's Intro to VCD Studio students, LeBlanc added, “’In two years of college, I have not had a nicer, more friendly, and effective professor. Great guy, knows his stuff, and was a complete pleasure for me to have him as an instructor,’ and from another student, ‘Bruce was one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met and was always helpful and understanding. I’ll miss him. P.S. He has fantastic musical analogies.’”
Morrill’s clients have included the Akron Art Museum, United Cerebral Palsy and Services for the Handicapped, Players Guild of Canton, The Institute for the Study and Prevention of Violence, The American Diabetes Association and the Kent State School of Art Gallery.
He has received an Addy Award, an Award of Distinction from the Ohio Museums Association, a Gold Award and Best of Show from the Cleveland Desk Top Publishers Group. His work is included in the design collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Morrill earned his Bachelor of Science in Art Education and his Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from Kent State.