Paula Wallace, president andfounder of the Savannah College of Art and Design, today announces therelease of The Bee and the Acorn, her memoir produced with Assouline Publishing. In The Bee and the Acorn, Wallace shares the remarkable story behind the creation of the most revered and comprehensive art and design university in the world. The book ($35, hardcover, illustrated, ISBN: 9781614285083) is slated for release in April 2016, and will be available at Assouline boutiques, shopSCAD, and online at assouline.com, shopSCAD.com, thebeeandtheacorn.com, and Amazon.com. E-book and audio formats are forthcoming.

In The Bee and the Acorn, readers journey with Wallace from her Atlanta Public Schools elementary classroom to storied Savannah, where, just as General Oglethorpe built a new kind of city, Wallace built a new kind of college — marrying the best of higher education tradition with pedagogical and curricular innovation. For four decades, Wallace's path has paralleled that of the university she founded. Through surprising tales that span the purchase of the university's first building to its global expansion and more, Wallace reveals herself as an educator, entrepreneur, designer, preservationist, mother, and wife.

"Paula Wallace built one of the world's premier institutions of design, art, and education," said Arianna Huffington, cofounder, president, and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post. "In her candid and compelling memoir, she weaves the story of its founding together with her deeply personal meditations on creativity, family, and faith."

Eschewing convention, Wallace's pioneering spirit and commitment to innovative excellence transformed a tiny art college with an incoming class of seventy-one students into an international university. With a mission to prepare talented students for professional creative careers, SCAD has grown to define Wallace's singular vision. Evidenced the world over by the university's four locations on three continents, the university now encompasses forty-five thousand students and alumni.

"I imagined a student-centered university where the hands readily made what the mind dreamt and what the heart desired. SCAD is that magical triad of a place. The Bee and the Acorn is my way of sharing with others what they can do, if only they dare to try," said Wallace.

Sincere, witty, and candid, Wallace shares the trials and triumphs of building a university and the visionary SCAD story that appeals to students, educators, entrepreneurs, and anyone who dares to dream big and do the impossible. Titled after the university's mascot, the bee, and the university's crest emblem, the acorn — two beings that defy the odds of nature in their ability to rise to great heights — Wallace's memoir is about joy, determination, and a life filled with gratitude. Whimsical illustrations and artful vignettes by SCAD alumna Emily Isabella (B.F.A., fibers, 2008) punctuate the story.