Dear School of Art Community,
I’m writing after the close of a successful year and a truly unforgettable weekend, where we celebrated the Class of 2025 — an extraordinary group of artists whose passion, work, and resilience lit up this year.
I had the honor of presiding over our Diploma Ceremony, including introducing alumna Deborah Kass (BFA ’74), who joined us before receiving an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree at Sunday’s Commencement ceremony. Fierce, funny, and frank, Deborah is a force — an artist and thinker whose work has shaped five decades of cultural dialogue. Her remarks were powerful, generous, and galvanizing, a gift to everyone in the room, especially our graduating students.
This past academic year has asked a great deal of our community. In a time when higher education — and the arts in particular — are facing mounting challenges, I’m proud to say: we are here. We are here because of the strength, stability, and endurance of our students, faculty, staff, and alumni. We are here because we believe in the value of critical thinking, creative inquiry, and the power of art to shape culture and envision the future. And we are here, still pushing forward, because of you.
2025 School of Art Diploma Ceremony
This fall, we will welcome 66 new students in the Class of 2029. I am excited to also welcome two new faculty members in Animation, expanding our reach and deepening our commitment to experimental time-based practices. At the same time, we bid farewell to a beloved colleague, Professor Andrew Johnson, who is retiring this spring after more than two decades of teaching, mentorship, and tireless dedication to our School.
Across the School, our faculty and alumni continued to make significant contributions to the field. Professor Sharmistha Ray, as part of their collaborative collective Hilma’s Ghost, unveiled a major new public mosaic at Grand Central Station, commissioned through the MTA’s competitive public art program. Adjunct Professors Addoley Dzegede and Bryan Martello exhibited at the Carnegie Museum of Art alongside alumni Jamie Earnest (BFA ’16) and Matthew Constant (BFA ’18). Professors Alisha B. Wormsley and Dzegede, along with alums Jessica Gaynelle Moss (BFA ’09) and London Pierre Williams (MFA ’24), were recipients of 2024 Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh grants — and Professor Wormsley also debuted Cosmologyscape, a monumental new public project commissioned by Creative Time in New York City.
Public art also came to life on our own campus. In October, artist Guadalupe Maravilla’s Descansa Espíritus/Rest Spirits found its permanent home in the new Highmark Center for Health, Wellness and Athletics, thanks to the work of Professor and Johnson Family Public Art Curator Elizabeth Chodos. Off campus, MFA candidate Afrooz Partovi installed This Too, a new public sculpture permanently situated on the grounds of PS1 Close House in Iowa City.
In a year of transition, we also introduced the newly reformed Student Advisory Committee, a group of undergraduate representatives from across class years who are working in close collaboration with School leadership. Their voices and ideas have already made a meaningful impact, and I’m excited to see their continued influence as we move forward together.
Our end-of-year exhibitions were more embedded in the cultural fabric of the city than ever before. Our graduate exhibition, “Holding Still, Holding On,” was co-presented with The Andy Warhol Museum, and our senior BFA and BXA exhibition, “Rapid Eye Movement,” was presented in collaboration with the Tomayko Foundation. These partnerships not only offered meaningful platforms for student work — they exemplify the kind of community-driven and publicly engaged art we aspire to support.
This year marked our return to New York City during the College Art Association conference after a five-year hiatus, where we reconnected with so many of our alumni and friends. As part of our ongoing 5 Questions alumni series, we caught up with Joyce Kozloff (BFA ’64) and Tsohil Bhatia (MFA ’20). We also said goodbye to cherished members of our community — Dara Birnbaum, Mel Bochner, Fred Eversley, and David Edward Byrd, all of whom leave behind formidable artistic legacies.
And finally, I want to share a personal note. Next academic year will mark the conclusion of my term as Head of the School of Art, after which I will be joining the faculty. With so much momentum, creativity, and ambition across our community, I’m looking forward to the year ahead filled with meaningful work, bold ideas, and continued collaboration. This role has been one of the great honors of my career, and I remain deeply committed to the School — to its values, its people, and its future.
To the Class of 2025: thank you for all you’ve given to this community. You graduate at a time of noise, change, and challenge, but also a time of immense possibility. As you move forward, I hope you carry the spirit of this place with you: the belief that every one of you matters; that real change is not only constant but within your power; and that your greatest ideas will come from spaces of quiet, kindness, and care.
Warmly,
Charlie White
Regina and Marlin Miller Head of School, Professor of Art
School of Art
Carnegie Mellon University