Delivering on Our Promises
RISD’s commitment to supporting its global community of artists and designers has never been stronger.
One year ago, in the Spring 2019 issue of Momentum, I wrote about RISD’s aspirations to better serve alumni in response to the findings of the 2018 Alumni Survey. We set out to strengthen the RISD Alumni Association, build anew alumni website, introduce new alumni clubs and affinity groups, launch a mentoring platform and offer new lifelong learning opportunities.
It is a pleasure to share that we have successfully built all of these new platforms and programs—and it is exciting to see our community embrace them. The new alumni website, alumni.risd.edu, is receiving a brisk pace of traffic and many news and event submissions from alumni. The Alumni Association continues expand its programs to connect alumni in more regions and professions and the RISD Network, our new mentoring platform, is off the ground connecting hundreds of alumni and students.
Although COVID-19 has forced us to suspend in-person gatherings, our efforts to develop creative ways to engage our community has only accelerated as we offer new opportunities to connect in the digital space and plan for community gatherings when conditions allow. One quick pivot we made was to begin offering free webinars to the community to support our alumni and their creative practices that are challenged by this new public health and economic climate. I invite you to visit alumni.risd.edu/learning to learn more.
Looking ahead, we will grow the Parents + Families Association and launch their new website, form new multicultural and professional affinity groups, further expand our regional clubs, invest in our lifelong learning initiative and offer new volunteer opportunities. None of this would be possible without your active involvement. I thank you for your time, attention and generous support.
O'Neil Outar
Vice President of Institutional Engagement
