Dear School of Art Community,
I’m writing this, my final letter to you, following a fantastic weekend for the School of Art Class of 2026. We gathered as a truly international, intergenerational community, a testament to the beauty, complexity, and humanity that sews the fabric of a global conversation together.
I was profoundly honored to preside over the Diploma Ceremony and to celebrate a cohort that embodies the spirit of our School — the final cohort I bid farewell to as Head of School before I step into my new role as Dean at the Sam Fox School at Washington University. Serving as your Head has been an incredible privilege, and these ten years together have changed both our school and myself in ways small and significant.
The 2025-26 academic year in particular has been one of exceptional momentum. We were thrilled to see our MFA program recognized by U.S. News & World Report in a tie for #2 in the nation, a historic all-time high for our program. This distinction is a testament to the caliber of our program and the ambitious work of our graduate students. This March and April, that ambition was on full display as The Andy Warhol Museum hosted our 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibition, “Time-Honored Non-Specifics,” for the second consecutive year, while our First- and Second-Year MFAs presented “Dream Sequence” at SPACE Gallery downtown.
2026 CMU School of Art Diploma Ceremony
Just last week, our graduating seniors closed out a stunning survey of their final projects in “Topsoil,” hosted by the Tomayko Foundation. I am so proud of the ways our students are engaging with the artistic life of Pittsburgh as our curriculum expands even further into the city. Contemporary Craft hosted two semesters of an introductory weaving course, which will return again next fall alongside a fundamentals of glass flameworking course at The Pittsburgh Glass Center.
So much of the strength of our school is rooted in the dynamism of our esteemed faculty. This spring, we’re celebrating the retirement of Professor Suzie Silver after 27 years of dedicated teaching and mentorship. Suzie’s impact on the experimental media landscape at CMU is immeasurable, and we wish her the very best in her next chapter. In that same spirit of radical creativity, we have also loved welcoming Professors Jamie Wolfe and Sujin Kim as new full-time animation faculty this year.
Beyond the walls of the CFA, our community continues to shape the cultural landscape of our region. In November, the Pittsburgh International Airport re-opened featuring new permanent public artwork by eight School of Art faculty, staff, and alumni. Professor Golan Levin’s “Drawing with Machines” class exhibited at Bantam Tools’ Machine Arts Gallery in New York, Professor Yoko Sekino-Bové led a campus-wide initiative for Pittsburgh Empty Bowls, and Visiting MFA Core Faculty member Shikeith launched Project Blue Space, supported by a $250,000 Mellon Foundation grant.
This year was also marked by the loss of beloved members of our community. We remembered the lives and legacies of alumna and Professor Joann Maier (1936–2025) and Professor Steve Kurtz (1958–2025), both of whose influence continues to resonate in the work of the many students they inspired.
As Carnegie Mellon celebrated its 125th Anniversary, the School of Art leaned into the traditions that make us distinct. Coco Allred (BFA ’20) designed this year’s School of Art T-shirt, and we commemorated the last five years of alumni-designed shirts by reissuing them as the School of Art Sweatshirt Collection. We hosted the Pittsburgh Regional Scholastic Art Awards, something we have proudly done since 2023, and our Visiting Artist Public Lecture Series welcomed compelling voices to the podium, including a symposium on the future of the ICA Pittsburgh led by Professor Elizabeth Chodos. From this year’s “sky-themed” Open Studios to our Friday night openings at the student-run Frame Gallery, this community remains our most vital asset. Next fall, our community will grow further still as the School welcomes 60 new students in the Class of 2030, each bringing new questions, discoveries, and creativity to our halls.
2026 Senior Exhibition Closing Reception
I have spent the greater part of my life as part of an art school, through high school, college, graduate school into becoming a teacher, and finally an administrator. If there is one lesson I want to leave everyone with it is that art school matters. It matters because it is so much more than learning about being an artist, or a creative problem solver, or a technically trained practitioner. It’s a space of reading and thinking as much as making and showing. It’s a space where identities and ideologies have more room to breathe, and it’s a space to be safe doing things society might deem unusual, unacceptable, or unfitting. Art school is not a space to “prepare” you for tomorrow. It is a space that prepares you to transform tomorrow.
Ten years ago this July, I arrived at Carnegie Mellon full of energy, ideas, and ambition. But as I shared with our graduates this past weekend, although I was becoming the “head” of school, what I found here was a “body” made of a heart that feels, hands that lift its community, and a gut to measure what is right. What I had the honor of becoming part of was a thriving, dynamic, capable community focused on students, contoured by care for each other, fueled by humor, buttressed by tolerance, and made possible by the time, labor, and love invested by every single person in our community.
Finally, to the School of Art’s distinguished faculty, exceptional staff, and unparalleled students: thank you for the trust you placed in me. Thank you for making our school a space of caring and nurturing, and for the labor and love you invest in our mission. Thank you for the persistence, laughter, and the constant drive that have defined our school. It has been a privilege to walk this path with you.
Warmly,
Charlie White
Regina and Marlin Miller Head of School, Professor of Art
School of Art
Carnegie Mellon University