Sir Ken Robinson to Deliver Keynote Address at Rhode Island School of Design's 2009...

Sir Ken Robinson to Deliver Keynote Address at Rhode Island School of Design's
2009 Commencement

Writer and cultural visionary Robinson will receive an honorary degree, along
with Apple designer Jonathan Ive, entrepreneur and Flickr co-founder Caterina
Fake, arts advocate and educator Roger Mandle and ceramicist Betty Woodman

PROVIDENCE, R.I., May 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Saturday, May 30, at 10
am, graduating students from Rhode Island School of Design will receive their
hard-earned diplomas during RISD's lively Commencement celebration. The 473
undergraduates and 187 graduate students will gather at the First Baptist
Church at 75 North Main Street, where the processional will work its way down
the Providence riverwalk.

The annual RISD Commencement ceremony is held outdoors on South Water Street
at Power Street, at the southern end of RISD's east side campus. RISD
Commencement is a true representation of the students' time spent at RISD,
where their spirits of individuality and creative minds come to life via both
playful and innovative ensembles created specially for the occasion and the
thoughtful adornment of otherwise traditional caps and gowns.

As part of the outdoor ceremony, RISD also confers honorary Doctor of Fine
Arts degrees on exceptional individuals who have made groundbreaking
contributions to the world of art and design. This year five people who lead
in their fields will join in the festivities and accept honorary degrees:
entrepreneur Caterina Fake, best known as the co-founder of Flickr; Apple
designer Jonathan Ive, leader of the team behind the iconic iMac, iPod and
iPhone; arts advocate and educator Roger Mandle, president of RISD from
1993-2008; writer and creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson, a cultural visionary
who will also deliver the keynote address; and accomplished artist Betty
Woodman, widely considered one of the most important ceramic artists working
today. At the ceremony, the Alumni Association will also present its Art &
Education Award to Liz Collins '91 TX/MFA '99, a RISD assistant professor of
textiles.

Graduating students will mount a series of exhibitions leading up to
Commencement, including the Senior Invitational Exhibition at Woods-Gerry
Gallery, the RISD Graduate Student Exhibition at the Rhode Island Convention
Center, a graduate student show at Sol Koffler Graduate Student Gallery and
the Senior Film/Animation/Video Festival at the RISD Auditorium. Details
about each can be found at: http://www.risd.edu/exhibitions.cfm

Brief histories on each of this year's honorary degree recipients can be found
below. For more detailed bios or other information on RISD's 2009
Commencement, visit www.risd.edu/risd_commencement.cfm.

Caterina Fake

Caterina Fake has been involved in web development since 1994, when she became
an art director at Salon.com and got involved in the development of online
communities, social networking software and personal publishing. Born in
Pittsburgh, PA, Fake graduated from Vassar College in 1991 with a BA in
English. In 2001, she founded Ludicorp with her husband, and launched Flickr
in 2004, which was later acquired by Yahoo!. For three years, she ran Yahoo's
Technology Development group and Brickhouse, a rapid product development
environment. Fake was cited in BusinessWeek's list of Best Leaders of 2005,
Forbes' 2005 eGang, Fast Company's Fast 50, and Red Herring's 20 Entrepreneurs
under 35. In 2006 she was named to the Time 100, Time's list of the world's
100 most influential people, and was also featured on the cover of Newsweek.
Now, as chief product officer at Hunch, Fake has been working on the beta
launch of Hunch.com, a new customizable decision-making site that "gets
smarter the more you use it."
Sir Ken Robinson

One of the world's leading thinkers on creativity, Sir Ken Robinson was
knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for outstanding achievements as a
writer and tireless advocate for creativity, education and the arts. His
latest book "The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything"
(Penguin-Viking, January 2009) became an instant New York Times bestseller and
has been widely embraced by leaders in business, education, government and the
arts. Known for his ready wit and deep humanity, Robinson speaks throughout
the world on the creative challenges facing business and education in the
ever-shifting global economy. After researching the role of drama and theater
in education, Robinson earned a PhD from the University of London. From
1989-2001 he taught as a professor of Arts Education at the University of
Warwick in the UK, but now lives in Los Angeles.

Jonathan Ive

London born designer Jonathan Ive is the senior vice president of Industrial
Design at Apple, reporting directly to the CEO. Since 1996 he has been
responsible for leading a design team widely regarded as one of the world's
best. Recognized with numerous design awards, Apple products are featured in
the permanent collections of museums worldwide including MOMA in New York and
the Pompidou in Paris. Ive holds a Bachelor of Arts and an honorary doctorate
from Newcastle Polytechnic. In 2003 he was named Designer of the Year by the
Design Museum London and awarded the title Royal Designer for Industry by The
Royal Society of Arts.

Betty Woodman

A studio artist whose work has evolved over half a century, Betty Woodman is
one of the most important ceramic sculptors working today. She is known for
her painterly use of color, inventive way with form and expert blend of
diverse influences, which come together in exuberant and captivating
three-dimensional pieces that defy categorization. Woodman studied at the
School for American Craftsmen at Alfred University and initially made
decorative pots and functional ceramics. Today Woodman creates multiple forms
-- from fragmented wall vases, to bronze benches, to jugs, pots or urns that
clamber up walls or enclose inviting new spaces. Woodman's work has been
shown all over the world and is included in the Cooper-Hewitt National Design
Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Arts & Design and the
Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in
Paris, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and The Victoria and Albert Museum in
London, among dozens of others.

Roger Mandle

An art historian, former museum director and national arts advocate, Roger
Mandle served as president of Rhode Island School of Design from 1993-2008,
leading RISD through a $105-million capital campaign and spearheading such
major campus additions as the Chace Center, the Fleet Library at RISD and a
living/learning center that almost doubled the capacity of campus housing for
students. Mandle's widespread involvement in local business, civic and
educational organizations heightened RISD's stature as an advocate for the
arts and for economic development in the region. A specialist in aesthetics
and Dutch art, Mandle earned a BA from Williams College and an MA and
Certificate in Museum Training from New York University. He went on to earn a
PhD at Case Western Reserve University and is now Executive Director of the
Qatar Museums Authority, where he is leading the initiative to establish a
complex of new cultural institutions in Doha.

About Rhode Island School of Design

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) has earned a worldwide reputation as the
preeminent art and design college in the country. Today, with more than 26,000
alumni, the college enrolls 1,926 undergraduates and 426 graduate students
from the United States and almost 50 countries, offering degree programs in
the fine arts, architecture, and design disciplines, and art education.
Academic programs include research and design initiatives, the exploration of
art criticism and contemporary cultural concerns, as well as international
exchange programs. Each year, RISD hosts prominent and accomplished artists,
critics, and authors to its campus. Included within the college is The RISD
Museum of Art, which houses a world-class collection of art objects from
Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome and art of all periods from Asia, Europe and
the Americas, as well as the latest in contemporary art. For more
information, visit www.risd.edu or our.risd.edu.

SOURCE Rhode Island School of Design

Jaime Marland of the Rhode Island School of Design, +1-401-427-6954,
jmarland@risd.edu