Herb Mignery Statue
In the heart of campus, situated in front of Conn Library, sits a bronze sculpture of two students and a park bench. The sculpture was created by Herb Mignery, who attended Wayne State from 1955 to 1959 and majored in industrial arts. When the sculpture, now an icon of Wayne State College, was dedicated in 1995, Mignery said it was to “repay Wayne State for the fine education” he received.
Mignery grew up on a ranch near Bartlett, in the sandhills of Nebraska, and is considered to be one of the United States’ foremost Western artists. He has won numerous awards, including Best of Show and the Western Art Associates Kieckhefer Award, as well as gold and silver medals in sculpture at the Cowboy Artists of America Show in Phoenix, the Norris Foundation Award at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles, and the Leonard J. Meiselman Memorial Award for sculpture at the National Sculpture Society in New York, among many other honors and achievements.