Jonathan Ive, Betty Woodman Among RISD Honorary Degree Recipients

As if proximity to Rhode Island School of Design president John Maeda wasn’t reason enough to visit Providence, RISD has announced who will receive honorary degrees at its 2009 commencement on Saturday, May 30. This year’s crop of “exceptional individuals who have made groundbreaking contributions to the world of art and design” are entrepreneur/Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake, Apple designer Jonathan Ive, former RISD president Roger Mandle, writer and creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson, and sculptor Betty Woodman. Held outdoors, RISD’s always festive commencement ceremony is open to the public, which means that anyone is welcome to soak up Robinson’s commencement address and admire the graduates’ unique twist on traditional caps, gowns, pomp, and circumstance. It’s also customary for the honorary degree recipients to give a speech, and who knows, Ive just might shower the crowd in free iPod nanos. (Hey, with Maeda presiding, anything can happen.)

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