During a Friday ceremony, Clark University Visual and Performing Arts Professor of Practice Stephen DiRado will receive the 35th ArtsWorcester Award to honor his years of artistic and cultural contributions to the city — an award his current and former students believe has been years in the making.

“I have no idea if I would even have a photography career if he wasn’t my professor,” says New York photographer Diana Levine ’07, who has worked with famous musicians, bands and other public personalities. “I remember clearly feeling like his courses were as close to magic as I’d ever experienced.”

Levine and dozens of others took to Facebook, tagging their photos and praise with #madewithstephen, in response to ArtsWorcester’s call for DiRado’s former students to show how his guidance and mentoring helped their art.

Here are just a few of the posts: