Honorary degrees are conferred upon exceptional individuals who have made groundbreaking contributions to the world of art and design. At Commencement 2009 honorary degrees will be conferred on entrepreneur Caterina Fake, Apple executive Jonathan Ive, former RISD president Roger Mandle, writer and creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson, and ceramic sculptor Betty Woodman. Robinson will deliver the commencement address. Brief biographies on each recipient follow. Brief biographies on each recipient follow.

CATERINA FAKE

Caterina Fake is the cofounder of Flickr, the popular photo-sharing site that helped transform the web into the participatory environment it is today. Flickr launched in early 2004, but she has been involved in web development since 1994, when she moved to San Francisco, became an art director at Salon.com and got involved in the development of online communities, social networking software and personal publishing.

Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Fake graduated from Vassar College in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. In 2001 she cofounded Ludicorp and in 2004 launched Flickr, which was acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. For three years, she ran Yahoo’s Technology Development group, known for its Hack Yahoo! program to stimulate innovation and creativity, and Brickhouse, a rapid development environment for new products.

Fake has earned growing recognition for her successes in the field. She was cited in BusinessWeek’s list of Best Leaders of 2005, Forbes’ 2005 eGang, Fast Company's Fast 50, and Red Herring’s 20 Entrepreneurs under 35. In 2006 she was named to the Time 100, Time’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people, and was also featured on the cover of Newsweek. She serves on the boards of Etsy and Creative Commons, and advises many start-up companies.

Now, as chief product officer at Hunch, Fake has been working on the beta launch of Hunch.com, a new customizable decision-making site that “gets smarter the more you use it.”

JONATHAN IVE

London-born designer Jonathan Ive is the senior vice president of Industrial Design at Apple, reporting directly to the CEO. Since 1996 he has been responsible for leading a design team widely regarded as one of the world’s best.

Recognized with numerous design awards, Apple products are featured in the permanent collections of museums worldwide including MOMA in New York and the Pompidou in Paris.

Ive holds a Bachelor of Arts and an honorary doctorate from Newcastle Polytechnic. In 2003 he was named Designer of the Year by the Design Museum London and awarded the title Royal Designer for Industry by The Royal Society of Arts.

ROGER MANDLE

An art historian, former museum director and national arts advocate, Roger Mandle served as president of Rhode Island School of Design from 1993–2008, leading RISD through a $105-million capital campaign and spearheading such major campus additions as the Chace Center, the Fleet Library at RISD and a living/learning center that almost doubled the capacity of campus housing for students. The president’s widespread involvement in local business, civic and educational organizations heightened RISD’s stature as an advocate for the arts and for economic development in the region. In addition, his progressive global outlook and extensive travels as RISD’s global ambassador led to growing opportunities for students and faculty in Europe, Asia and Central and South America.

With a BA from Williams College and an MA and Certificate in Museum Training from New York University, Mandle came to RISD after a series of progressively more challenging museum posts – as associate director of the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, director of the Toledo [OH] Museum of Art, and deputy director and chief curator of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. While in the capital, he served as a member of the National Committee for Education Standards in the Arts and both President Reagan and President Bush appointed him to the National Council on the Arts, one of scores of policy-making and advisory groups he has served on and led during his 40-year career.

A specialist in aesthetics and Dutch art, Mandle earned a PhD at Case Western Reserve University and is now Executive Director of the Qatar Museums Authority, where he is leading the initiative to establish a complex of new cultural institutions in Doha.

SIR KEN ROBINSON

One of the world’s leading thinkers on creativity, Sir Ken Robinson was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for outstanding achievements as a writer and tireless advocate for creativity, education and the arts. His latest book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything (Penguin-Viking, January 2009) became an instant New York Times bestseller and has been widely embraced by leaders in business, education, government and the arts.

In the late 1990s, Robinson was appointed by the British government to lead a national commission on creativity, education and the economy, which resulted in the widely acclaimed 1999 “Robinson Report,” All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education. His subsequent book Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative (2001) firmly established his reputation as one of the world’s leading authorities on the value of creativity.

Known for his ready wit and deep humanity, Robinson speaks throughout the world on the creative challenges facing business and education in the ever-shifting global economy. He has advised governments in Europe, Asia and the US; worked with international agencies and Fortune 500 companies; and guided some of the world’s leading cultural organizations.

After researching the role of drama and theater in education, Robinson earned a PhD from the University of London. From 1989–2001 he taught as a professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick in the UK, but now lives in Los Angeles. In 2004 RISD recognized his many accomplishments with an Athena Award, just one of many accolades he has earned from educational and cultural organizations worldwide, and in 2005 he was named one of Time/Fortune/CNN’s Principal Voices.

BETTY WOODMAN

A studio artist whose work has evolved over half a century, Betty Woodman is one of the most important ceramic sculptors working today. She is known for her painterly use of color, inventive way with form and expert blend of diverse influences, which come together in exuberant and captivating three-dimensional pieces that defy categorization.

Woodman first became enchanted with the magic of ceramics in the late 1940s, when she was in high school in Newton, MA. She went on to study at the School for American Craftsmen at Alfred [NY] University and initially made decorative pots and functional ceramics. Over time she began to experiment more with form and to incorporate influences from cultures around the world.

Today Woodman creates multiple forms – from fragmented wall vases, to bronze benches, to jugs, pots or urns that clamber up walls or enclose inviting new spaces. She also incorporates a fascinating combination of influences and traditions that imbue her work with enormous energy and emotional range. Blurring the boundaries between fine art and craft, she seamlessly combines elements from the rich tradition of each to make them uniquely her own.

While Woodman still uses the motif of the vase and vessel, she says quite plainly: “I’m not making pots anymore, even if I use that language.” Instead, she sees the vase as “a reference to a global perspective on art history and production. The container is a universal symbol – it holds and pours all fluids, stores foods, and contains everything from our final remains to flowers.”

Woodman’s work has been shown all over the world and is included in dozens of major museum collections, including the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Arts & Design and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, among dozens of others.