Honorary Doctorate Recipients Adam Sandow and Kia Weatherspoon Shared Advice on Designing for This Unique Historical Moment With the Class of 2021

On May 27, 2021, for the second time in its 105-year history, NYSID held its commencement ceremony virtually after a period of challenge and change brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some graduates participated from afar; some from nearby. The themes of the day were creativity in the face of our society’s greatest problems and designing for the realities of a world altered by the pandemic. The commencement experience consisted of a live stream of the ceremony interspersed with prerecorded elements, a Zoom viewing party that enabled graduates to chat with each other and their instructors, and a virtual gallery of student thesis projects. Ellen Kravet, chair of NYSID’s Board of Trustees, said, “The pandemic changed the way people live and work, the way they want to travel, how students learn, and how healthcare is delivered. . . . It is you who will guide us into this new era of opportunity.” 

President Sprouls conferred honorary doctorates upon entrepreneur Adam Sandow, founder & chairman of SANDOW Companies and founder and CEO of Material Bank, and Kia Weatherspoon, a well-known design equity advocate and president of Determined by Design, an interior design practice that is redefining approaches to affordable housing. Addressing the class of 2020, Sandow said, “You are all graduating during a once-in-a-lifetime period in the world. . .a pivotal time for the design industry. . . .As a designer, your job is going to be to interpret how these shifts will change our lives.” Weatherspoon told the graduates, “Our industry needs you: change agents, diverse voices, empathetic leaders. . . .You have the agency of choice. Know you have chosen a path that can and will impact people’s lives for generations to come.” 

Two student speakers, Supasara Rungruangrattanagul, BFA ’ 21 and Dahiana Peña Calcagno, MFA ’21, spoke on behalf of their graduating classes. “NYSID is a family,” said Rungruangrattanagul. “Never have I been somewhere where everyone supports each other's goals the way they do at NYSID.” Added Peña Calcagno, “You have all shown me, and each other, the value of working collectively to build each other up, and that there are no limits to what we can do in a work-from-home setting.”    

NYSID 2020/21 Achievement Award Winners 

One of the most moving parts of the commencement ceremony consisted of recordings of Dean/Vice President for Academic Affairs Ellen Fisher surprising faculty and students with news of their achievement awards. The awards follow:   

The Breger Faculty Achievement Award 

Shannon Leddy  

The Chairman’s Award 

Tatiana Toshimitsu (BFA) 

Violette Phoenix (née Chartock) (MFA1) 

Danielle Todd (MFA2) 

Ana Blanc Verna Award for Excellence in Interior Design 

Cielo Cortes (BFA)  

The Alumni Award for Service to the College 

Crystal Pickar (MFA1) 

Sonalika Nair (MFA1)  

The Robert Herring Travel Prize 

Sara Herrera Garcia (BFA) 

Daniela Rutigilano (MFA1)