Board of Trustees elects six members

The Board of Trustees at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is proud to announce the election of Shepard Fairey, Gabrielle Bullock, Shahzia Sikander, Norman Chan, Michael Rock and William Schweizer as its newest term trustees. Each will serve a three-year term through May 2022.

“The Board is thrilled to welcome this new group of esteemed trustees, which includes several extraordinary alumni,” says RISD Board Chair Michael Spalter. “Our newest members embody RISD’s values and they have each made indelible marks on society. We look forward to the ways they will help guide our institution alongside our visionary President Rosanne Somerson, and we thank them for taking on this important commitment in service to RISD.”

Shepard Fairey (BFA 92 Illustration) is a street artist, graphic designer, activist, illustrator, DJ and founder of OBEY Giant Art and OBEY Clothing, both offshoots of the 1989 OBEY GIANT street art campaign he created as a student at RISD. His 2008 Hope portrait, which fueled Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, is now in the National Gallery, and he has contributed more recently to such social justice campaigns as We the People and We the Future. His work is on view at the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum and SFMOMA.

A principal at architecture firm Perkins&Will, Gabrielle Bullock (BArch 84 Architecture) also serves as director of global diversity, combining her passions for architecture and social justice. She has led numerous high-profile projects, including the design of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. A fellow of the American Institute of Architects, she serves on its Equity in Architecture Commission, is a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects and serves on the boards of the Center for Architecture and Urban Design Los Angeles and the International Interior Design Association.

National Medal of Arts recipient and MacArthur Award winner Shahzia Sikander (MFA 95 Painting/Printmaking) challenges the strict formal tropes of classical Indio-Persian miniature painting by experimenting with scale and various forms of new media. Informed by South Asian, American, feminist and Muslim perspectives, she has developed a unique approach to the medium, exploring ideas of language, trade, empire and migration. Her work has been shown at the Hirshhorn Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, MAXXI Museo Rome, the Asia Society Hong Kong and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, to name a few.

Norman Chan (BArch 85 Architecture) is the founder and managing director of BTR Workshop Limited in Hong Kong, an architecture and interior design firm established in 1995. He has collaborated with many international architects and designers, including Frank Gehry, Robert Stern, Yabu Pushelburg and Antonio Citterio on projects in Hong Kong, China and the Asia Pacific region. Chan also currently serves as co-chair of the RISD Fund and as a member of the President’s Advisory Council at Williams College.

In 1993 designer Michael Rock (MFA 84 Graphic Design) cofounded 2x4, a global design consultancy headquartered in NYC that focuses on brand strategy. The firm was the subject of a solo exhibition at SFMOMA in 2005 and earned the 2006 National Design Award. Rock is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and a senior critic at Yale University School of Art. In 2016 he helped establish the 2x4 Endowed Scholarship at RISD.

Dr. William Schweizer, III (RISD Parent 19) is vice chairman of Clinical Affairs at NYU Langone Health, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in NYC. He is a clinical associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, director of the Generalist Division, and Obstetrics service chief. He earned a BS from Cornell University, an MPH from Yale University School of Public Health and an MD from SUNY Stony Brook, where he serves as vice president of the Alumni Board. He served as an ex officio trustee representing the RISD Parents’ Council from 2016–19.