Ellen S. Fisher, Ph.D., Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean
Graduating Student Speakers
Amira Briggs (BFA)
Carissa Kim Pintello Sundberg (MFA1)
Commencement Address
Stellene Volandes, Editor-in-Chief, Town & Country, and Editorial and Brand Director, ELLE Decor
David Kleinberg, Founder and Principal, David Kleinberg Design Associates
Conferral by the President of the Honorary Doctorates
Stellene Volandes
David Kleinberg
Presentation of Diplomas
David Sprouls, President
Ellen S. Fisher, Ph.D., Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean
Recessional
Music provided by the David Glukh Brass Quartet
Student Speakers
NYSID’s community has selected two graduating students to speak at Commencement. This year’s speakers are Amira Briggs (BFA) and Carissa Kim Pintello Sundberg (MFA1).
Amira Briggs (BFA)
In three words, what does interior design mean to you?
Equity, Expression, Empowerment
Interior design, to me, is about creating space that reflects and protects. It starts with equity, intentionally designing for a wide range of needs, identities, and lived experiences. Design is also a form of expression, of culture, identity, and story. As a Black woman in design, I understand how powerful it is to feel seen in the spaces around you. Interior design is also about empowerment, not just through beauty and function, but through a sense of safety and belonging. My goal is to design environments where people feel affirmed, respected, and at home whether in their workplace, community, or personal space. Design should uplift, protect, and make room for everyone.
Carissa Kim Pintello Sundberg (MFA1)
In three words, what does interior design mean to you?
Living your fullest
I believe interior design means creating a setting that allows people to live their fullest while on earth. Whether it’s a hospital, school, store, office, home, restaurant, or hotel, interior design is about forming a built environment that facilitates human flourishing.
Commencement Speakers
Every year, nominees for the NYSID honorary doctorate degree are selected from a distinguished pool, each having demonstrated leadership in the interior design industry and values that are consistent with the goals of the College’s mission and higher education.
Stellene Volandes
Recipient of the Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts
Stellene Volandes is an editor, author, and cultural leader who has worked across journalism, design, and the arts. Since 2016, she has been the Editor-in-Chief of Town & Country, where she has shaped the brand’s voice around heritage, philanthropy, and cultural relevance. She previously served as the magazine’s Executive Style Director and Jewelry and Accessories Director. In 2020, she was named Editorial Director of ELLE Decor, and in 2025, she added the role of Brand Director. She has since guided the celebrated design publication with a vision rooted in style and innovation.
Additionally, Volandes is the author of two books: Jeweler: Masters, Mavericks, and Visionaries of Modern Design (2016), a celebration of jewelry designers and the evolution of their work, and Jewels That Made History: 101 Stones, Myths & Legends (2020), which explores the cultural and historical resonance of iconic pieces of jewelry and their impact on world events. A recognized authority in the field, she has shared her expertise through a conversation and lecture series at New York’s 92nd Street Y. She also serves on the board of Lincoln Center Theater and has been a longtime champion of New York's theater scene.
Born in Brooklyn, Volandes graduated from Poly Prep School, and went on to Vassar College, where she studied English Literature. She later received an MA from Columbia University in English and Comparative Literature.
David Kleinberg
Recipient of the Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts
David Kleinberg is one of the most respected and celebrated names in interior design. Over a 35-year career with projects reaching around the world, Kleinberg has created a body of work that is wide-ranging in style, yet always modern in sensibility. Whether boldly inspired or carefully nuanced, Kleinberg’s interiors are above all clean-lined, sophisticated, and highly attuned to each client’s lifestyle.
After graduating from Trinity College in 1976, Kleinberg explored the New York design world while working first at Denning & Fourcade and then at Mara Palmer. His talents were further honed during his 16year tenure at the venerable Parish-Hadley Associates, beginning in 1981. Kleinberg left Parish-Hadley in 1997 to start his own firm David Kleinberg Design Associates, which today employs 20 people.
Kleinberg is a member of the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame and has been honored with the Albert Hadley Lifetime Achievement Award by the New York School of Interior Design. He was first named to Architectural Digest’s AD100 list in 2012 and has been a member of ELLE Décor’s A-List since 2011. Kleinberg has participated in the Kips Bay Decorator Show House throughout his career, and his work is published internationally. He published his monograph Traditional Now: Interiors by David Kleinberg in 2011, and a new book, David Kleinberg Interiors, was released in March 2025, both with The Monacelli Press.
Kleinberg lives in New York City and East Hampton, NY. He serves on the Board of Directors of the New York School of Interior Design.
AWARDS & PRIZES
The Chairman’s Award
The Ana Blanc Verna Award
The Alumni Award
The Robert Herring Travel Prize
The William Breger Faculty Achievement Award
CLASS OF 2025
ASSOCIATE IN APPLIED SCIENCE CANDIDATES
Cindy Azria
Samantha Beilfuss ✦
Shanna-Joelle Blockman ✦
Jessica Chau ✦ ✦
Kamryn Sevita Clothier ✦
Rachael Celeste Creger
Grace Futeen Dowd ✦ ✦
Sarah Shirley Finley
Zahava Gitelis
Judith Limon Gonzalez
Sarah Graddy ✦ ✦
Erica S. Gunsburg ✦ ✦
Stephanie Christine Larry ✦ ✦
Isabelle Lumb ✦ ✦
Denise J. Matthews ✦ ✦
Mackenzie Meeter ✦ ✦
Rina Okamoto
Camila Orozco ✦ ✦
BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS CANDIDATES
Duha Fadi Ajaj
Maryna Angel
Shoshana Beck ✦ ✦
Amira Briggs ✦
Valerie Y. Cheung
Anastasiia De la Fuente ✦ ✦
Sean Fredric Diamond
Jazmina Dillier ✦
Charrli Rae Genovese ✦
Gala Aguilar Gonzalez ✦
Nicole Kathleen Hand
Anine Sofie Holter-Sorensen
Catriona Morgan Mary Howard ✦ ✦
Sofia Serna Iriondo
Taurean M. Jones
Yung-Chieh Ke ✦
Satchel Gonzalez Macias
Parmida Mahdavi ✦
Evelina McMahon
Megan Ruth Ellen Millner
Michaella Nemer
Norma Alkeshkumar Patel ✦ ✦
Charlene Elizabeth Parkin ✦ ✦
Abigael Sauber ✦
Rose Sheiner ✦ ✦
Stacey Marie Stenehjem ✦ ✦
Alexis Stratigakis ✦
Amber Taylor ✦
Kathryn Wilcox White ✦
Matthew Ryan Perry ✦ ✦
Sandhya Rajendran
Bracha Schoenfeld ✦
Bridger Schow ✦ ✦
Reese Smith ✦ ✦
Madelaine Rogero So ✦ ✦
Shelby Necole Summers ✦
Crista Fernández Taha ✦
Ruyin Wang ✦ ✦
Jamela Phillips Winocour ✦ ✦
Yiwen Zhang ✦
CLASS OF 2025
MASTER OF FINE ARTS CANDIDATES
MFA PROFESSIONAL (MFA1)
Michael Baum ✦ ✦
David Becerra
Julianna Boglione ✦ ✦
Déjà Lyn Brown ✦
Carmen Clara Filomena Cruz ✦ ✦
Alyssa Victoria Degenhardt ✦ ✦
Hannah Dirks ✦
Laura Ferraris ✦ ✦
Caroline Greiwe ✦ ✦
Jefferson Johanes ✦
Hadley Wall Jones ✦ ✦
Katarina Jovic ✦ ✦
Belight Lanucess Kakpo ✦
Leona Kogan ✦ ✦
Caylin Lewandowski ✦ ✦
Cristina Clarich Llewellyn ✦ ✦
Angel Lopez ✦ ✦
Lijun Ouyang
Deepakshi Paliwal ✦
Katie Phillips ✦ ✦
MFA POST-PROFESSIONAL (MFA2)
Abdulrahman Alkanderi ✦ ✦
Shreyaa Dada ✦ ✦
Anjali Khemani
Shambhavi Sanjay ✦ ✦
Devanshi Sidhpura ✦
Christianna Thetis Theofanopoulou ✦ ✦
MASTER
OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES CANDIDATES
MPS IN LIGHTING DESIGN
Riddhi Kiran Doshi
Veronica Gonzalez
Aronda Nikol Alvarez Martell
Shane Moan
Clay Alistair Mohrman
Callie VanLear Walton
MPS IN SUSTAINABLE INTERIOR ENVIRONMENTS
Paridhi Jain
Tamanna Sachdev
Krishma Shrestha
Maria Luciana Viola
Ariana Riske ✦ ✦
Fernanda Romero ✦ ✦
Nour Saedeldine
Dariya Setrakian ✦
Carissa Kim Pintello Sundberg ✦
Obiageli Ukatu
Helen Yang
Dionysia Zipitas ✦
ACADEMIC HERALDRY
The caps, gowns, and hoods worn at college and university functions date back to the medieval period. Derived from the traditional dress at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, they were originally worn to provide warmth in cold and drafty buildings. In Colonial America, King's College (now Columbia University) was the first to adopt this academic attire. The garments are now donned during ceremonial occasions at most institutions of higher education. The ensemble generally consists of a gown with a separate hood and a cap that is actually a mortarboard, tam, or bonnet according to the institution’s choice.
Distinctions in the type of gown worn signify different degrees. For example, the bachelor’s gown is distinguished by its long pointed sleeves, while on the master’s gown, the sleeves are long but square. Gowns for the doctor’s degree carry broad velvet panels down the front and three velvet bars on the full, rounded sleeves. While typically black, doctoral robes may also be in the school’s colors like those of Columbia (light blue), Harvard (crimson), Fordham (maroon), and St. John’s (bright red). Members of the board of trustees of any institution of higher education are entitled to wear doctoral robes faced with black velvet and with black velvet bars on the sleeve regardless of their terminal degrees.
The brilliant colors of the hoods were added in the 19th century to signify the various degrees and the subject to which the degree pertains. The size of the hood varies according to the level of the degree. Basically a black shell in material to match the robe, it is lined in silk with the color or colors of the institution conferring the degree. The hood is then bordered with the proper width to indicate the degree and the color signifying the level of learning the degree represents. For example, brown velvet signifies fine arts, white velvet the humanities, and purple velvet law and jurisprudence. The doctoral degree requires blue velvet irrespective of the major field of study. If more than one degree is held, the gown and the hood of the highest degree attained are worn.
The colors and insignia of academic dress are subject to a strict code, and the American Council on Education’s Committee on Academic Costumes and Ceremonies reviews the dress code periodically and may recommend changes.
SCHOOL CHARTER
In New York, an institution that wishes to organize as an educational corporation must do so by petitioning the State Board of Regents for the issuance of a charter. Organizational and educational standards established by the Board of Regents must be fully met in order for a charter to be issued. In 1924, the New York School of Interior Decoration, as the College was known at that time, was chartered by the Board of Regents and the first course catalogue was published.
THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDALLION
The official insignia of the NYSID presidency, the Medallion symbolizes both the authority of the president and the ensuing responsibilities of the office. Worn on ceremonial occasions as part of the president’s academic regalia, the Medallion was designed by the late Michael Graves, who served on NYSID’s Advisory Board and was Program Advisor for the Master of Professional Studies in Healthcare Interior Design. The College expresses thanks to Michael Graves and his colleagues at Michael Graves Architecture & Design for so generously donating their time and talent to the creation of the Medallion.
Featuring a replica of the College’s seal and a rendering of a klismos chair in relief on the reverse, the Medallion is a gold-plated bronze medal measuring five inches in diameter. The dies for the medal, fabricated by the Medallic Art Company, were created from hand-sculpted models provided by Michael Graves Design. The production of the Presidential Medallion was made possible by the Board of Trustees of the New York School of Interior Design.
THE CEREMONIAL MACE
The Ceremonial Mace is a symbol of order and authority and is carried before the president and other dignitaries during academic processions. The NYSID Mace, symbolic of the search for enlightenment, is a replica of a flame-bearing urn resting on a plinth and mounted on a fluted handle. The hand-turned solid brass torch with an antiqued bronze finish is engraved with the College’s logo. Resting on top of the urn is the flame, which is a resin cast of a 19th century finial. The Mace was designed by NYSID faculty member René Estacio. The flame was finished in 23.5k gold leaf by Dean Barger, also a NYSID faculty member. The Mace was fabricated by Lite Makers, Inc., of Long Island City, New York. The manufacture of the Mace was made possible by the generosity of the Board of Trustees of the New York School of Interior Design.
New York School of Interior Design
New York School of Interior Design is a private, nonprofit college focused exclusively on interior design. The college offers certificate, undergraduate, and graduate programs for students at all stages of their careers—whether they’re just becoming familiar with the discipline, considering a career change, or looking to deepen knowledge in a particular area. Consistently ranked one of the top interior design programs in the United States, students study both residential and commercial interior design, some with specialties in sustainable design, lighting, and healthcare interiors. NYSID students enjoy a small class size and sharp focus, along with a great deal of personal attention from dedicated faculty. They go on to practice at the highest levels of the profession.
NYSID's Manhattan facilities are located at 170 E. 70th Street and 401 Park Avenue South. The majority of NYSID’s programs have online components. With the 2022 launch of the CIDA-accredited BFA distance degree in interior design, the entire undergraduate curriculum is available both on-site and online so students everywhere have access to a NYSID degree. To learn more, visit nysid.edu
NYU Skirball
NYU Skirball, located in the heart of Greenwich Village, is one of New York City’s major presenters of international work, and has been the premier venue for cultural and performing arts events in lower Manhattan since 2003.
The 860-seat state-of-the-art theater, led by Director Jay Wegman, provides a home for internationally renowned artists, innovators, and thinkers. NYU Skirball hosts over 300 events annually, from re-inventions of the classics to cutting-edge premieres, in genres ranging from dance, theater, and performance art to comedy, music, and film.
