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The Cleveland Institute of Art has honored one retiring and one former faculty member with its Viktor Schreckengost Teaching Award.

At its 128th commencement ceremony on May 14, CIA honored retiring Professor Barbara Stanczak ’90 and the late Professor John Szilagyi ’42 with its Viktor Schreckengost Teaching Award.

The Schreckengost award was established in 2000 to honor the late artist and industrial designer who was a 1929 graduate of the Institute who taught at CIA for nearly 70 years.

Schreckengost was the first recipient of the award, which is presented annually to current and/or former faculty members in recognition of teaching excellence at the Institute over a period of at least 10 years. Nominations are solicited from faculty, former faculty, alumni, students, and friends of CIA.

Stanczak began teaching in CIA’s foundation program in 1976. In presenting the award to her at commencement, Dean of Faculty Matthew Hollern said that during her 37-year tenure, “she pushed and encouraged thousands of students to develop skills, artistic vision, and self-confidence by exploring a diversity of ideas and approaches in drawing, painting, sculpting and other disciplines.“ Stanczak retired at the close of the semester.

Primarily a sculptor, Stanczak has had work included in dozens of group and one-person shows. She has a solo show opening June 10 at the Canton Museum of Art.

Szilagyi attended CIA when it was called the Cleveland School of Art; Schreckengost was one of his teachers. After graduation, he joined the military, serving in the Army Air Forces until the end of World War II.

Following the war, Szilagyi worked in various Cleveland design firms and in 1961 he returned to CIA to teach typography. At that time, CIA graphic design students were drawing each project by hand and the curriculum included a heavy emphasis on rendering.

Szilagyi embraced the transition to computers. In an article in CIA’s Link magazine announcing his retirement in 1998, he said one of his fondest memories was of the day computers arrived in what was then called the Graphic Design Department.

His son, Steve Szilagyi, accepted the award on his behalf.