Congratulations! You are headed for an exciting journey I will be taking together with you at RISD. I’m the incoming president of RISD and am still discovering bits and pieces about our new institution. When you arrive on campus I will still be settling in just like you.

Thus far my perception is that the campus is not too big and not too small. The facilities are expansive and yet still homey enough that you can create your own community. Much of my interest in our first few years at RISD is to see if we can build the foundations for a RISD that will define our new century of art and design. Where will this all go? I’m not sure. And that’s what makes it exciting!

Please visit our.risd.edu from time to time to get an update on what’s happening at RISD right now. Hopefully by the time you folks get to campus we’ll have some groundwork in place for more possibilities we can create together online. And of course everything isn’t about just online interactions so we’ll have plenty of opportunity to create face-to-face happenings to make it all real.

The folks in RISD Admissions have worked extremely hard to orchestrate the complex process of bringing the Class of 2012 to RISD. Director of Admissions Mr. Edward Newhall (enewhall *at* risd.edu) and his talented team are here to help get you situated as the days tick down to your arrival on RISD campus.

Stay tuned for more info to come from the RISD network! And again, my heartfelt congratulations to you! – John Maeda, President- Elect

Recently John Maeda (who will become RISD’s next president in June) took a stroll around the campus with a film crew. Along the way he encountered some of the people who comprise our unique community: groups of prospective students on tour with their parents, current RISD students mingling between classes and faculty and staff conversing on street corners. So take a walk with John — someone like you, who’s just beginning to learn about our incredibly valuable people, places and things. It’s your first glimpse into life at RISD.

P.S. This is the first of seven video “webisodes” that feature John exploring different aspects of the unique RISD community — they’ll be posted here weekly, so make sure you return to welcome.risd.edu often! (Next up: the Fleet Library at RISD: not your typical library.)

Commentary from JM: You can see the entire set of clips on the original welcome link in case you can’t wait. In this first clip I start wandering from a building called “Prov Wash” which is where the current President’s office is … as well as a host of departments and other units. I head out walking up all these up-down hills that connect RISD — RISD feels a bit like San Francisco with the seriously steep grades. Will continue with commentary as we progress.