I got the news just before Christmas that John Maeda had been selected as RISD’s next president. It had been hard for me to picture Roger Mandle’s successor, and I wasn’t expecting to hear anything until March or April, so the news took me off guard. Maeda is an excellent choice– so different from Roger, which is a good thing, and such an exciting figure in the design world.

He’s sure to shake things up a bit. And President Mandle has set the stage perfectly for him to be able to do exactly that. With the recent renovation of the Fleet Building for RISD’s library and student housing (which is amazing), the new joint Brown/RISD Degree Program launching this year (which makes me so incredibly jealous you wouldn’t even believe), and the Chace Center under construction, Maeda will have some great momentum to get him going.

RISD has launched a website about its search for a new president, including video interviews of Roger Mandle and John Maeda that are worth checking out (filmed and edited by our friend Josh Backer). Also here are some interviews with John Maeda by Rob Forbes and Steven Heller about the big news.

I have a real soft spot for President Mandle. I remember tranfering to RISD in 1999 and being invited to the Mandles’ beautiful house (which I guess will soon be John Maeda’s beautiful house) for a transfer breakfast. Soon after I ran into President Mandle on the street, and he remembered my name. This was kind of amazing to me, and it came to symbolize Pres. Mandle’s incredible tact, generosity, and genuine interest in RISD and its students. Several events are planned for the spring to send Roger off in style– I am looking forward to seeing where he ends up (there are rumors about museums in the Middle East).