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Francis Kéré, Walter Hood, Do Ho Suh to receive honorary degrees at RISD Commencement

2023-04-14T09:00:00-04:00

This spring’s commencement ceremony at the Rhode Island School of Design will feature a pair of luminaries as last year’s Pritzker Prize winner Francis Kéré will join Walter Hood for the event, which is to be held at Amica Mutual Pavilion on June 3rd.

Both designers will receive honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees alongside artist and Class of 1994 graduate Do Ho Suh. Kéré will be the keynote speaker at the event. Hood, who is not slated to give an address, also spoke at the UC Berkeley CED commencement ceremony in 2020.

The school shares: “A series of exhibitions leading up to Commencement will highlight new work produced by graduating students. Showcasing the work of grad students across 20 disciplines, Grad Show 2023 will be on view at the Rhode Island Convention Center from May 25–June 3.”

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Pritzker Prize winners Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara to speak at Sam Fox School graduation

2020-05-11T18:31:00-04:00

The virtual ceremony — which will be broadcast at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 14 — will celebrate graduating students from the Sam Fox School’s undergraduate College of Art and College of Architecture, and from the Graduate School of Art and Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design at Washington University in St. Louis.

Susan Barrett (BA and BFA ’89; MArch ’94), president and founder of St. Louis’ Barrett Barrera Projects, will deliver the alumni address.

“In these extraordinary times of uncertainty, it’s important that we continue finding ways to come together as a school,” says Carmon Colangelo, Ralph J. Nagel Dean of the Sam Fox School and the E. Desmond Lee Professor for Collaboration in the Arts.

“I am incredibly excited about our speakers and cannot imagine a more inspiring lineup,” Colangelo continued. “Susan Barrett’s cutting-edge galleries and project spaces have had a major impact on the St. Louis art scene, while Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara have long considered...

The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever

2014-05-20T18:44:00-04:00

Just in time for graduation, NPR has hand-picked 300 of the best commencement speeches, searchable by name, school, date or theme.

Michael Rotondi's 2012 SCI-Arc Commencement Speech

2012-09-20T17:30:00-04:00

Thanks to Michael Rotondi for providing us with the transcript from his '12 SCI-Arc commencement speech, and thanks to Orhan for bringing it to our attention.

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Now and Then
The Upside of Evolution

Good afternoon everyone –
My name is Michael Rotondi aka Roto
Parents, relatives, friends, my colleagues, Director Moss, Board of Trustees, and especially

all you in the Class of 2012 _ The 40th Graduating Class of SCI-Arc, congratulations

I represent the first Graduating Class___1973………there were ten of us, all top 10.
I have been a part of SCI-Arc for 40 years, in every capacity.
A Student, a Teacher, a Director, a Trustee, and most importantly, a member of the Family.

Throughout, I’ve been a witness to a form of Creation Itself.
A collective organism, conceived at the epicenter,
where the counter productive force of Anger
transforms into the generative power of Creativity.
Although it began as a revolution, SCI-Arc was a Love Child.

I am often asked –
How...

Pritzker Winner Wang Shu Confirmed as RISD's 2012 Commencement Speaker

2012-03-07T14:04:00-05:00

On Saturday, June 2 at 1:30PM, 197 graduate and 448 undergraduate students from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) will receive their diplomas during RISD’s 2012 Commencement celebration.

At the ceremony, RISD will present honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees on to several special guests at its 2012 Commencement ceremony. The honorary degree recipients who are being recognized for creating groundbreaking work and making a profound impact on contemporary culture are: architect and professor Wang Shu, who will also deliver the keynote address; writer-activist Rebecca Solnit; and the directors and producer of the Japanese film animation house Studio Ghibli – Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki, respectively, with Suzuki accepting the award on behalf of the studio.