The College for Creative Studies (CCS) has named internationally recognized automotive designer and distinguished alumnus Paul Snyder to lead its undergraduate program in Transportation Design, starting with the winter 2015 semester.
News of Snyder’s induction comes nearly one year after the appointment of former Fisker Automotive Global Design VP Alexander Klatt, who was brought in to head the College’s MFA Transportation Design Program in January last year.
Snyder, who graduated from CCS in 1987, will be 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.
“With so much exciting change and optimism about the future, it’s a fantastic time to return to CCS and Detroit,” Snyder said of his appointment. “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.”
“Detroit itself has become a pretty hip place to be,” Snyder added. “I’m thrilled to be a part the CCS team again, and to play a role in shaping the design leaders of tomorrow.”
“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.” — Sooshin Choi, CCS Provost
Snyder comes to CCS from Honda R&D 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.
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 where he designed exterior and interior solutions for the Taurus/Sable and Explorer production vehicles, as well as contributing to the Ghia Via concept.
Later he spent three years at Design Club International in Japan where 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 and Honda AC-X concept 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.
In addition to his work as a 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.
