Designer and poet will receive award, give talk on surviving the new world

Gino Morrow, ’94, who has achieved multidimensional success as a graphic designer, motivational speaker and published poet, will be honored as the 2011 Distinguished Alumnus of the SUNY Fredonia Educational Development Program (EDP) at its 29th annual awards ceremony Wednesday, March 9, at 4 p.m. in the Horizon Room of the Williams Center.

Morrow will also be on campus Tuesday, March 8, at 4 p.m., to deliver a talk entitled, "Old School to New School -- Revising Survival Techniques for a New World."  The entire campus community is welcome, and encouraged to ask questions. 

The concept behind GLMCreative was developed in 1995, the year after Morrow, a Buffalo, N.Y., native, earned his undergraduate degree in Fine Arts, with a concentration in Graphic Design. He is also a graduate of the Buffalo School for Fine & Performing Arts.

Morrow began his professional career as a graphic designer/illustrator at Hallmark Cards Inc. in 1995. In a single year, Morrow generated $29 million in revenue for the nation’s largest card manufacturer by designing highly customized, theme specific, graphic display units for high-profile accounts. He later worked as a multimedia designer for Sprint PCS, where his design of online customer advocate performance support tools netted company savings of $30 million.

Morrow’s string of accomplishments and level of engagement extend far beyond GLM Creative. As the longtime director of Grassroot Literary Movement, Morrow encourages creative self-expression in poetry and jazz, counsels and mentors youth, and helps to make scholarships available to college-bound high school seniors in the Kansas City area by preparing grant proposals.

He further serves youth as a creative writing instructor with Kansas City Young Audiences, where he introduced basic and advanced elements of spoken word poetry to students and also taught them how to effectively communicate a message within three minutes.

As a published poet and author of five books, Morrow has won critical appeal. According to John Mark Eberhart, former book review editor of The Kansas City Star, “Morrow doesn’t skimp on words; his poetry has considerable range, moving through moods that are politically and socially charged.” Morrow was heralded as one of the most “buzz-worthy performance poets” in the industry by Bruce George, co-founder of the HBO television series, “Def Poetry Jam.”

Morrow is a sought-after motivational speaker and workshop facilitator, utilizing diverse topics such as developing relationships through writing, the influence of hip-hop on the planet, and the National Education Association mentoring program. He participates in the Upward Bound Professional lecture series, where his work is admired for its powerful anecdotes filled with outrageous humor and audience participation.

He is also associated with the non-profit sector, assisting agencies with copywriting, media relations, program design, grant writing, joint strategic planning and volunteer management.

Morrow is a five-time recipient of the Sprint Values Excellence Award and past winner of the Kansas City Division of Youth Services Award and the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry Award.

His drive to achieve — and the string of successes that he has produced — can be easily tracked at SUNY Fredonia, too. Morrow won a Rosa Parks Scholarship in the art category for his painting series, “With Liberty and Justice for All,” and an Arthur O. Eve Scholarship award at the 1994 EDP awards ceremony. Morrow served as president of the Black Male Coalition, was a member of the Gospel Choir and Black Student Union, a mentor for the Liberty Partnership Program, a Residence Assistant, an EDP peer advisor and an admissions office ambassador.