Alexa Hampton, Wendy Goodman, & Daisy Soros to Receive Honorary Doctorate Degrees

New York, NY – April 25, 2016 – The New York School of Interior Design (NYSID) is pleased to announce that Alexa Hampton, NYSID trustee and principal at Mark Hampton LLC, will be the keynote speaker at the College’s 2016 commencement ceremony, which will take place on Wednesday, May 18, 4pm at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, in New York City.  NYSID is proud to graduate 116 candidates this year: 37 Master of Fine Arts, 18 Master of Professional Studies, 31 Bachelor of Fine Arts, and 30 Associate in Applied Science candidates.

Hampton will receive the College’s Honorary Doctorate degree, as will Wendy Goodman, design editor at New York Magazine, and Daisy Soros, NYSID alumna and philanthropist.

“We are so pleased that Alexa Hampton will be our commencement speaker this year,” said NYSID president David Sprouls. “She is such a powerhouse in the field, creating timeless classical designs for A-list clients, developing furniture and product lines, writing books, and more. She is also an incredibly generous spirit, serving as a NYSID trustee, co-chair of our annual dinners, and a true advocate for the mission of the college.”

Keynote Speaker and Honoree: Alexa Hampton
Alexa Hampton took over the ownership and design leadership of her father’s renowned firm, Mark Hampton LLC, in 1998. She has completed a wide range of designs for domestic and international projects, from New York City to Hangzhou, China, including apartments and large residences, private airplanes, and yachts. A perennial member of Architectural Digest’s AD100,  House Beautiful’s Top Designer list, and a member of Elle Décor’s A-list, Hampton’s work is classic and eclectic. In recent years, she was awarded Cosmopolitan’s Fun Fearless Female Award, Connecticut Cottage & Gardens’ Design Innovator Award and the Hyland Award for Interior Design. Hampton is the author of two critically praised books: The Language of Interior Design and Decorating in Detail and she contributed an essay for Charlotte Moss' book, A Visual Life. She is also a contributing columnist for the The Wall Street Journal’s Saturday “Off Duty” section. 

Hampton also has a growing stable of acclaimed products for the home. These include fabrics and trims for Kravet Inc., her own furniture line for Hickory Chair Co. and its sister furniture line at Kravet, carpets for Stark Carpet, lighting for Visual Comfort & Co., and mantels for Chesney’s. In 2016, Alexa Hampton was named spokesperson and “style guru” for ATGstores.com, a division of Lowe’s, where she guides the product offerings.   

Hampton is on the Board of Trustees for the New York School of Interior Design, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, and the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. She was one of the three inaugural designers who launched Gilt Groupe’s Gilt Home Design Boutiques, serves on the design board of MyDeco.com,  was the only ever female cast member of “This Old House,” and was a co-host of PBS' "Find."

Honoree: Wendy Goodman
Wendy Goodman has been New York’s design editor since October 2007. She was previously the magazine’s interior design editor from 1997 - 2007, and was New York’s fashion editor under editor-in-chief Ed Kosner from 1984 - 1989. As design editor, Goodman is responsible for New York’s twice-annual design issues and regular “Great Room” features. She also oversees the stand-alone home-design magazine New York Design Hunting, and produces the weekly online feature “Design Hunting.” Before re-joining New York Magazine in 1997 Goodman was the style director at Harper’s Bazaar under Liz Tilberis, producing and writing style, interior design and architecture stories. Prior to her work at Bazaar, Goodman covered the world of style and fashion for House and Garden, tracking fashion designers and artists at home and traveling to the Paris, Milan, and New York shows. Goodman returned to House and Garden as design director in 2007, but returned to New York after House and Garden ceased publication.

Goodman’s career began in fashion at Harper’s Bazaar, from which she went on to the New York Times Magazine where she wrote and produced fashion pages. Goodman is the co-author, with Hutton Wilkinson, of Tony Duquette, published in 2007 by Abrams. Her second book for Abrams, The World of Gloria Vanderbilt, was published in 2010. 

Honoree: Daisy Soros
Daisy M. Soros is the chairman of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans that supports two years of graduate study for 60 fellows each year. Soros is a member of the Board of Overseers of Weill Cornell Medical College where she also serves as founding chairman of the Dean’s Council.  She is an advisory director of the Metropolitan Opera, an honorary trustee of International House, secretary on the board of the New York Philharmonic, and a director emeritus of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.  She serves on the boards of The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the American Austrian Foundation, the Foreign Policy Association, the Chairman’s Council of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Venetian Heritage, and is former chairman of the Board of the Friends of the Budapest Festival Orchestra.  She received an honorary Doctor of Laws at Bates College in Maine and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York.  Innumerable institutions have honored her, including Ellis Island, Henry Street Settlement, Lincoln Center, etc. Soros grew up in Hungary and graduated from the Ecolé Hotelier in Lausanne, Switzerland. She came to the United States on a student visa, enrolling at Columbia University.  She later attended the New York School of Interior Design, and NYU’s School of Social Work, and worked extensively as a counselor to terminally ill patients and their families.

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About New York School of Interior Design
New York School of Interior Design is a private, nonprofit college focused exclusively on interior design. The college offers certificate, undergraduate, and graduate programs for students at all stages of their careers—whether they’re just becoming familiar with the discipline, considering a career change, or looking to deepen knowledge in a particular area. We have more than 600 students studying residential and commercial interior design, with specialties in sustainable design, lighting, and healthcare interiors. Because of our small class size and sharp focus, our students receive a great deal of personal attention from our dedicated faculty, and they go on to practice at the highest levels of the profession.

Founded in 1916, New York School of Interior Design has been leading the study of interior design for a century. We’ve trained the designers whose work defines interior design today, and, by rigorously preparing students for professional success, we’re shaping the future of the entire field. We are ranked one of the top 5 interior design schools in the U.S. by DesignIntelligence. To learn more, visit our website at NYSID.edu.

This is a private event. For press seats, contact agillman@nysid.edu or call 212-472-1500,  ext. 432.