In 1978, she co-founded the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga. Between the university's founding and 2000, she served in various roles as vice president, academic dean, and provost of SCAD. In 2000, she was appointed to the office of president of the university by the SCAD Board of Trustees, and continues to serve in that role. She also directs the university's permanent art collection at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah and SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film in Atlanta. Since Wallace became president of SCAD, the university has added campus locations in Atlanta, Ga., Lacoste, France and Hong Kong, and an eLearning program online. Enrollment at SCAD has more than doubled during her tenure, with more than 12,000 students from more than 100 countries attending the university's campuses. In March 2020, following months of pressure during the 2019 Hong Kong Protests and the COVID-19 pandemic, SCAD elected to discontinue studies at their Hong Kong location, citing student safety and academic quality. Financial implications are considered to be a part of the decision as well, with the South China Morning Post citing a deficit of HKD$322 Million between 2010 and the end of 2018. The North Kowloon Magistracy will be returned to the city. The university hosts a number of annual events created by Wallace, including the Sidewalk Arts Festival, the Savannah Film Festival, SCAD deFINE ART, SCADstyle, and SCAD aTV Fest. During her presidency, the university has received recognition for its work in historic preservation, including awards from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, UNESCO, the International Interior Design Association and the American Library Association, and the American Institute of Architects, among others. SCAD has placed highly in various rankings under Wallace's leadership, including a place in the top four universities in the Americas and Europe in 2015 by Red Dot, as well as first place rankings for the graduate and undergraduate interior design programs in DesignIntelligence's "America's Best Architecture and Design Schools" list. Wallace also hosts a series called "On Creativity" that began running on Delta Air Lines flights in 2015 in which she interviews celebrities in creative fields, including Mindy Kaling, Lauren Bush Lauren, Christian Siriano, and David Muir, among others. In addition to writing a number of publications on design and children's books, in April 2016 Wallace released a memoir, The Bee and the Acorn, detailing her experiences as a founder and president of SCAD and the development of the university. Paula Wallace, president of the Savannah College of Art and Design, earned $9.6 million in 2014, according to The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper's report on nonprofit compensation found Wallace to be the highest-paid college leader and the eighth-highest-paid employee of an American charity. The $9.6 million included a base salary of $859,000, a bonus of $1 million and $7.5 million in deferred payments.
Honors
International Art Adviser by Chinese Red Sandalwood Museum in Beijing, China
Inaugural Elle Décor Vision Award from Elle Décor magazine
Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques, awarded by the French Embassy in the U.S.
