Commencement

Nicholas W. Benson is owner of the John Stevens Shop in Newport, RI, which was founded in 1705 and specializes in the design and carving of lettering in stone. He studied calligraphy and letterform design at the School of Design in Basel, Switzerland before taking over ownership and management of the shop in 1993.

Nicholas has designed and carved inscriptions on many civic memorials, including the National World War II Memorial, the National Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the National Eisenhower Memorial. He has also designed and carved inscriptions for many notable universities, including Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Brown and Dartmouth, as well as private commissions for prominent institutions and families.

The grandson of late RISD professor John Howard Benson (designer of RISD’s seal), Nicholas received the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship in 2007 and was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2010. He lives in Jamestown, RI with his wife Alix and their children, Hope and Henry.

Marva Griffin Wilshire was born in Venezuela and adopted Milan as her home city when she began working in the design and furniture world. Since 1990 she has served as international press director at Salone del Mobile Milano, where she currently serves as ambassador of international relations.

In 1998 Marva founded SaloneSatellite, which in May 2014 received the Compasso d’Oro XXIII Lifetime Achievement Award. She also earned the Ambrogino d’Oro Award for Civic Merit in 2017 and, in 2021, an Honorary Master's Degree in Product Service System Design from Politecnico di Milano. Since 2001, she has been a member of the Philip Johnson Architecture & Design Committee of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

In 2016, Marva became ambassador for Italian Design Day, presenting talks in Seoul, Montreal, Miami, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Guatemala City, New Delhi/Mumbai and Johannesburg/Cape Town.

Dorothy W. Ford served as the coordinator of RISD’s Minority Affairs/Third World Office from 1973–2000. She advocated for students of color and principles of social equity and inclusion long before such ideas were adopted nationwide. Her commitment impacted the lives of generations of RISD students, particularly students of color, allowing them to thrive during and after their years at RISD.

Dorothy’s work built the foundation for RISD’s current Social Equity and Inclusion plan and other initiatives launched to support marginalized students, such as Project Thrive and the RISD First-Generation to College Pre-Orientation Program.