Gordon Salchow

AIGA FELLOW: NAMED BY AIGA CINCINNATI, 2007

Gordon R. Salchow was appointed, in 1968, to conceptualize and to administer a new department of graphic design for the University of Cincinnati. Its pioneering initiatives and its success quickly established the school as one of graphic design’s most respected and influential educational institutions. This program played a key role in engineering the theoretical underpinnings of graphic design pedagogies in America. Salchow has lectured extensively for various institutions and organizations. His design work and articles have appeared in several exhibitions, periodicals and books. He has judged many competitions, and served on numerous design panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, Ohio Arts Council and others. Salchow was vice president of education for AIGA while serving on its national board of directors (1988–1993). He was given the Cincinnati Art Directors Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Minnesota Graphic Design Association’s similar Design for Society Award. Salchow has an MFA degree from Yale University and a BFA degree from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Prior to working for the University of Cincinnati, Salchow taught at the Kansas City Art Institute.

In addition to being named as one of AIGA Cincinnati’s first two Fellows, Salchow’s recent honors and activities include: his selection as Outstanding Professor of the Year; inclusion in a Print article by Katherine McCoy (“Bits and Pieces of Basel”); serving on a panel at an AIGA education conference in Philadelphia; being a featured speaker and exhibitor for the symposium/celebration at the Kansas City Art Institute (“Another ’60s Revolution”); publishing a testimonial in a book by Michael Kroeger (Paul Rand: Conversations with Students); presenting the keynote address for an AIGA Cincinnati event (“Origination Design Show”); giving the inaugural lecture for an alumni series at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design; and delivering the keynote presentation for an anniversary symposium at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts (“GD40”).

He plans to retire from the University of Cincinnati in 2010, after 45 years as a design educator.