Martin Smith Memorial Endowed Scholarship

The Martin Smith Endowed Scholarship was established in 2017 to honor Martin Smith, beloved faculty member and Chair of the Product Design Department. This scholarship supports undergraduate product design students who demonstrate financial need and academic merit.

Lorne Buchman, ArtCenter President Emeritus, remembers Marty Smith:
“Marty”, as he was known, served as the first chair of Product Design at ArtCenter (when it first split from a larger Industrial Design program) from 1985 until 2008, and his skillful leadership helped build the nationally recognized department at the College today. In October 2008, he assumed a professorship of industrial design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he served as “Professor Chair” of the program. In 2014, Marty returned to ArtCenter to teach product and transportation design, and all of us – especially his students – were delighted to have his great energy and talents with us again.

As chair of Product Design at ArtCenter, Marty also conceived and created a study abroad program with INSEAD, one of Europe’s leading business schools. The program continues today and offers a rich opportunity for our students to study business in an MBA curriculum at INSEAD’s locations in Singapore and Fontainebleau, France.

In his professional life, Marty worked for many years at Designworks USA, where he managed several major automotive design projects for Volvo, Mazda, General Motors, Chrysler and Subaru. As a consultant, he designed products for Avery-Dennison, Reebok, Salomon, Olympus Image Systems, Playtex and Coca-Cola. He held numerous U.S. and international patents for his designs and inventions. He licensed half a dozen products to major companies for manufacturing and distribution.

This wonderful man touched countless lives, and his influence ran deep."

Read more here: https://www.artcenter.edu/connect/events/marty-smith-memorial.html