Hi neighbors,

The spring 2022 semester has begun! More than 2500 students are officially back on campus, and with a campus-wide positivity rate lower than two percent, we are able to institute modified health and safety restrictions that allow us to begin a semester that resembles more normalcy and togetherness than we have experienced in the past two years.

The promise of longer, sunnier days feels nearly within reach. We look forward to the year's first blooms, the potential of in-person events and of course, seeing you across campus! 

As always, if you have a question or concern, please feel free to reach out. Also, we would welcome the opportunity to share these important updates with more neighbors and friends. Please forward this email to anyone you think would be interested in receiving periodic updates or encourage them to join the email list. 

 COVID Update

As COVID infections decrease around the region and nation, RISD has made modifications to its health protocols for the spring semester. Read more

RISD Pre-College Celebrates 50 YEARS

RISD’s first Pre-College summer program started in 1971 (pictured above!) with a few dozen students in just one building. Now, celebrating 50 unforgettable summers of Pre-College, roughly 600 students experience RISD’s campus each summer — representing nearly every state in the US, 84 different countries, and boasting over 10,000 alumni since 1971.  Read more

RISD's Center for Complexity is Working Locally to Rethink the Opioid Crisis

The Center for Complexity (CfC) is designing a spring studio for graduate students focused on building community support for Rhode Islanders affected by the national opioid crisis. Based on two NIH-funded studios that ran last summer and brought together experts on opioids and overdose from Rhode Island Hospital’s Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE), the project is intended to jump-start fresh ways of thinking about the ongoing crisis. Read more 

Five Questions

A series of interviews with RISD’s interdisciplinary cohort of full-time “Race in Art and Design” faculty members. Read More

Celebrating Founders Day

RISD was founded 145 years ago on March 22, 1877. In its fourth year as an institutional milestone, RISD will celebrate Founders Day throughout March, with virtual events, free museum admission days and RISD Serves events hosted by regional alumni clubs.  Read more

RISD in the News 

RISD Alum Katie Commodore MFA '04 Named One to Watch in RI in 2022
It’s not every day that an artist who has left Rhode Island for New York City decides to return. But artist Katie Commodore 2004 MFA in Print Making did just that — and she is firmly settling back in Providence. Read more   
 

Objet: Wwake's Art Inspired Jewelry
ARTnews profiles jewelry maker and Wwake founder Wing Yau 09 SC. Read more 

Wallpaper* 
RISD alum Lauren Goodman looks at the potential of discarded objects, in "The Providence Project," a series of experimental furniture designs made from things Goodman salvaged from the skips of Providence, Rhode Island.  Read more