Former Director of Nissan Design America Joins the College for Creative Studies

DETROIT, Jan. 10, 2005 -- Richard L. Rogers, President of the College for Creative Studies, announces the appointment of Kunihisa Ito as a full-time professor in the College's Transportation Design Program.

Prior to joining the College, Ito managed and directed the development of Nissan's Azeal Coupe, the first concept car created at the new Nissan Design America, Inc. studios unveiled at this year's North American International Auto Show. In addition, he led an automobile design group for new exteriors and interiors of four Nissan models that are produced and sold in North America. Prior to Nissan, he was the chief designer of Ford Motor Company's SUV studio in Dearborn where he helped implement a fresher design for future Ford SUV's.

"I've done a lot in my career and I believe I can blend my real world experience with the creative passion CCS students have for automotive design," said Ito. "It's important to bring reality to the classroom, but it's even more important to allow students to create and expand their talents."

Ito's career includes doing work for General Motors, designing and developing a Japanese exotic sports car, the Jiotto Caspita, and providing designs for Honda Motors, Suzuki Motors, Subaru, Yamaha Motors and Volkswagen. He has also done product design work for NEC, Sony, Canon, and Casio.

As the director of several design departments, Ito has always been impressed with the quality of CCS graduates entering the workplace.

"CCS graduates have consistently proven to be very creative in their designs not only within the transportation design field, but across every discipline," he said. "CCS' students are trained to recognize a problem and design a solution to those barriers. And, they do so while considering real world limitations, such as budget, marketing and technology."

Imre Molnar, Dean of CCS, believes Ito's work for Ford, Nissan and other companies will help CCS continue its long tradition of not only educating students, but helping them become problem solvers.

"Kuni has had success at every level in his career, from owning his own design firm, to the work he did for Ford and Nissan and we're thrilled that he will be able to prepare our students for similar success once they graduate," said Molnar.

The College for Creative Studies (CCS) is one of the nation's leading arts education institutions. With the world's most recognized program in transportation design, CCS alumni influence and shape the automotive design industry daily. From innovative exteriors to dynamic interiors, CCS graduates have had a hand in most of the cars on the road. CCS, located in Detroit's Cultural Center, produces leaders in Animation and Digital Media, Art Education, Communication Design, Crafts, Fine Arts, Illustration, Industrial Design, Interior Design and Photography.