Generous Donors Provide New Opportunities for RISD Students

As the fall semester gets underway at RISD, the Institutional Advancement team—which raises crucial funds for students and helps alumni stay engaged after they leave campus—is celebrating the close of the 2023 fiscal year. The team has raised more than $17 million in support of undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, funded professorships, internships and RISD Museum programming. This marks the fifth-best fundraising year in RISD’s history and also sets a new record for the number of volunteers who helped make it all happen.

“RISD is at an exciting moment as we look toward our 150th anniversary,” says Vice President of Institutional Advancement O’Neil Outar. “Alumni and friends recognize that RISD is an incredible asset to the artistic community and come together in support of our students and faculty. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next as philanthropy and volunteerism continue to grow.”

“Alumni and friends recognize that RISD is an incredible asset to the artistic community and come together in support of our students and faculty.”

O’Neil Outar, VP of Institutional Advancement

Monies raised include a record $5.05 million for the RISD Fund, a flexible fund that provides approximately 10 percent of the financial aid budget as well as other student support services and programs.

Undergrad Emily Van Heusen 24 PR, the recipient of a RISD Fund-supported scholarship, decided to pursue a four-year degree after using a DIY printmaking setup to make and sell prints in support of communities impacted by wildfires. The scholarship allowed her to hone her skills at RISD, where she declared a major in Printmaking and a concentration in Nature-Culture-Sustainability Studies. “I want to support the people and the land that I love,” she says. “I want to make informed art about the world around us.”

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At the graduate level, the Society of Presidential Fellows program continues to attract highly talented grad students whose work adds to the institution’s intellectual and creative dynamism. Landscape Architecture student Gabriel Ofem Peter MLA 26, a member of the most recent cohort of fellows, is an architect from Nigeria’s Niger Delta region with a passion for sustainable design strategies.

“Through this fellowship, I hope to better serve my community by developing resilient, nature-based solutions to reduce the impacts of climate change and flooding for the most vulnerable and underserved populations,” he explains. The Society of Presidential Fellows will fully support an additional grad student each year via the newly launched Vikram Kirloskar Presidential Fellowship, named in memory of Vikram Kirloskar P 12, a former member of RISD’s Board of Trustees. Kirloskar and his wife Geetanjali Kirloskar, a current trustee, had previously supported the RISD Fund and endowed a position for a visiting scholar in the Painting department.

Other notable gifts allowed RISD to launch the Movement Lab and Sustainability Design Lab, both in support of institutional strategic pillars. The Movement Lab is a multidisciplinary research space for students, faculty and visiting artists to focus on the creative study of movement. The Sustainability Design Lab is intended to foster a better understanding of how low-impact design strategies can shape the future of the built environment and define a new paradigm for socially responsible practices. 

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In addition, two generous alumni are supporting the newly established Susan Matthews Professorship, which can be held by a faculty member working in any discipline at RISD, and the Joseph N. Gebbia Directorship of Athletics.

Beyond the donations, RISD’s network of students, alumni, families and friends engaged with the college by attending events on campus and around the world. Inauguration Weekend drew hundreds of visitors, and Commencement + Reunion Weekend saw over 500 alumni gather for a three-day event that included ceremonies, celebrations, family activities and the RISD Craft art sale. RISD’s more than 60 affinity groups and regional clubs held domestic and international events such as volunteer days, museum and studio tours, art-making sessions and social gatherings.

Many of these events and accomplishments will appear in future issues of the recently launched RISD Alumni Magazine, which was introduced in May. The inaugural issue highlighted design that connects communities, including work by alumni Gabrielle Bullock BArch 84 and Michael Maltzan BArch 85/P 24, who were featured on its cover. “There are so few places in the world where you can feel the collective sense of purpose that you feel at RISD,” Maltzan notes in the cover story. “I have always been attracted to that amazing culture where everybody is committed to making a creative contribution.” 

Lauren Thacker / photos by Jo Sittenfeld
September 20, 2023