RISD Welcomes New and Returning Students for Academic Year 2024–25

As the fall 2024 semester gets underway, more than 2,500 RISD students are settling in across campus—including the newly minted Class of 2028. During move-in and orientation weekend, President Crystal Williams welcomed new students and their families as part of the annual new student welcome at the First Baptist Church in America, encouraging them to treat one another with kindness and respect and describing RISD as “a community of makers, visionaries, doers, innovators and creatives that spans eras, religions, cultures, languages, genders and belief systems.”

The RISD community is also an international one, and more than 300 new students hail from outside the US, representing every continent other than Antarctica. Most of them come from China, South Korea and Canada, but 44 other countries are also contributing to the latest RISD pool of creative talent, from Australia and Azerbaijan to Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

After moving in with the help of a huge crew of staff, orientation leaders and student volunteers, undergrads took part in a resource fair, on-campus wellness carnival, lawn games and a scavenger hunt in the quad. Meanwhile, grad students gathered at Tillinghast Place in Barrington for a celebratory meet-and-greet lunch in the sunshine. 

On Tuesday, September 3, students were introduced to Provost Touba Ghadessi, RISD Museum Director Tsugumi Maki, deans and department heads at RISD’s 147th Convocation ceremony. “You are the visionaries, the makers, the ones who will shape the world with your unique perspectives,” Maki told students packed into the RISD Auditorium. “I encourage you to use the RISD Museum as a source of inspiration and to embrace the messy, the unknown, the moments of doubt.”

Ghadessi picked up on that theme and also echoed President Williams’ sentiments about the importance of community, especially during politically divisive times. “This journey of discovery is not an easy one,” she said. “Facing what ails us, what ails this world, requires strength, passion and a sense of wonder.” She finished her convocation welcome by quoting a colleague: “You are the remedy. I can’t wait to learn from all of you.”

Simone Solondz / photos by Jo Sittenfeld MFA 08 PH
September 5, 2024