Puglia, John M. Endowed New York City Travel Fund for Art Students
The John M. Puglia Endowed New York City Travel Fund for Art Students is intended to provide full or partial support for students in the Mary Schiller Myers School of Art at The University of Akron to travel to New York City during the school's annual spring trips.
The student recipient(s) will be selected by the faculty and school director from applications submitted by students. Recipients must be full-time junior or senior undergraduate art majors at the time of the trip.
The fund honors the memory of the late John M. Puglia, a 1988 graduate of The University of Akron who died of cancer at age 48 in 2013. The fund seeks to inspire students' passion for art and New York City, just as John was inspired when he traveled to New York City as part of a student trip led by °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ Art Professor Don Harvey.
John was well known in the region for his own art and his collaborations with other artists through the magazines, gallery spaces, and often-elaborate events that he created. He was especially prolific in the last year of his life, with two gallery shows of new work in Akron.
Throughout his adult life, John balanced his creative ambitions with a successful professional career. He worked 19 years at Roadway Express (later YRC), rising to the position of director of corporate communications. His many accomplishments include creation of a Roadway-sponsored traveling Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and launching one of the first successful corporate websites. His Roadway site is nowin the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Museum. From 2009 until his death, John was creative director for WhiteSpace Creative in Akron.
John was founder of the Millworks Galleries, which opened in 1990 in the formerly abandoned BFGoodrich factory space. His work often focused on Akron themes and was exhibited at Millworks, We Gallery, and Square Records, among other venues.
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