 In 1972, she completed her BFA and married Sheldon Grad (divorced, 1973); she earned an MFA there in 1975.While in school, Grad exhibited at the Artemisia, Allan Frumkin and Nancy Lurie galleries, and in the Art Institute of Chicago's prestigious "Artists of Chicago and Vicinity" shows (1973, 1975).She also began teaching part-time at the Illinois Institute of Technology (1974).