Dear School of Art Community,
It’s a joy to welcome you to the 2025–26 academic year at the Carnegie Mellon School of Art!
I’m especially thrilled to welcome the 64 students of the Class of 2029. Nearly a third join us from around the world, while those from the U.S. represent 20 states — coming together for the first time last week during orientation. Our inspiring first-year MFA cohort, arriving from as far as China and as close as Ohio, has also begun settling into their studios, where they’ll develop their practices over the next three years. Whether you’re joining us for the first time or returning to campus after a rejuvenating summer, I’m glad you’re here and ready to begin an ambitious year of making, thinking, and collaborating together.
This year marks a significant moment for me personally: as we shared back in May, this academic year will be my tenth and final year as Head of the School of Art, after which I will be returning in the capacity of my professorship at the School. Serving as Head has been a true honor, and I will always be deeply committed to this School, its values, its people, and its future. I am so proud of all that our community is and does — from the professional rigor of our graduate, undergraduate, and pre-college programs to the countless ways we build creative and personal connections: starting every new fall term at our School picnic, gathering for Monday lunches and coffees, experiencing special performances and screenings or simply walking the halls to see new class installations, celebrating the openings of our graduate thesis and senior exhibitions together, or openings at the Frame Gallery on Friday nights all year long. We’ve welcomed leading artists and thinkers to campus for public talks, invited the wider Pittsburgh community to join us for Open Studios, and convened with alumni both here in Pittsburgh and across the country. Every year since 2021, we’ve even marked each incoming class with our alumni-designed School of Art T-shirt (we’ll reveal this year’s artist very soon, so stay tuned!). I love our School, and I’m excited to carry that same joy, rigor, and connection into the work of this coming year.
2025 Undergraduate Academic Orientation
Just as this is a year of transition for me, it is also one of growth and new beginnings for the School. This fall, we welcome two new full-time animation faculty members, Jamie Wolfe and Sujin Kim, whose international recognition and deep expertise will greatly enrich our community. In addition, we welcome artist and faculty member Lyndon Barrois Jr. as director of our MFA program. We’re thrilled that artist Shikeith is joining our MFA core faculty, bringing an extraordinary practice and perspective to our graduate program. And in a key staff role, Luke Doyle joined us as Doherty Hall Operations Manager, overseeing the daily operations that keep our makerspaces safe, functional, and ready for creative work. Over the past nine years, I’ve been so proud to see the scope of our community broaden through twelve new full-time faculty hires and seven new staff positions — each a reminder that people are truly the heart of the School.
One of those fantastic people, Sharmistha Ray, Estella Loomis McCandless Assistant Professor of Art, will kick off our Visiting Artist Public Lecture Series on September 16 in Kresge Theatre. Later in the month, on September 30, the ICA Pittsburgh will host a public symposium, How Can We Remake the Museum? An Opening Conversation, at the Carnegie Museum of Art Theatre. With a keynote by ICA Pittsburgh founder and director Elizabeth Chodos and a panel that includes Assistant Professor Alisha B. Wormsley, the evening will share some of the important research that’s shaping this new institution set to open in 2027 as a vital connection point between CMU and the broader arts community. I hope you’ll join us for these two upcoming programs, as well as the many visiting artists and thinkers who will be on campus throughout the year.
Our curriculum also continues to expand in exciting new directions. For the first time, students will have the opportunity to study weaving at Contemporary Craft, gaining access to a professional fiber arts studio in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood. Professor Suzie Silver’s “Video Art” course will likewise extend our reach beyond campus, taking place at our soundstage at 477 Melwood. And closer to home, Professor Golan Levin’s “Drawing with Machines” and Professor Johannes DeYoung’s “Stop Motion Animation” courses will use a new dedicated space for technology-driven creative work right here in the College of Fine Arts.
These are just a few of the latest examples of the growth I’ve been proud to lead over the past nine years that will shape the School for years to come. Our MFA program now thrives in its own purpose-built studio complex in the Hall of Arts, with full tuition funding that allows students to focus entirely on their practice and thesis work. Our undergraduate curriculum, reimagined through a thoughtful, multi-year redesign, is now fully in place, and this year’s seniors will be the first to graduate having experienced it in its entirety. Working with a truly unparalleled faculty and incredibly supportive staff has been the foundation for all of this progress, making it possible for the School to continue thriving in ways that reach far beyond our walls.
Finally, as I enter this last year as Head, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude. To our students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and colleagues across CMU: thank you for making the School of Art what it is today. We have accomplished remarkable things together, and I look forward to all we will do in the year ahead.
Welcome to one and all—now let’s get to work!
Charlie White
Regina and Marlin Miller Head of School
School of Art
Professor of Art
Carnegie Mellon University