School of Arts, Design and Architecture Formal Conferment Ceremony celebrated master’s and doctoral degree recipients
16.01.2013
The School of Arts, Design and Architecture held its fourth Formal Conferment Ceremony for recipients of master’s and doctoral degrees in art and design on 11 January 2013. The conferred masters, doctors and honorary doctors were accepted as members of the academic community. In addition to the honorary doctorates, 26 Doctor of Arts and 23 Master of Arts degrees were awarded.
Eight new honorary doctorates were awarded at the conferment ceremony: Laurie Anderson,multimedia artist from the United States; Rachel Cooper, Professor of Design Management from the United Kingdom; ambassador Arunas Gelunas from Lithuania; Pirjo Honkasalo, accomplished filmmaker; author and artist Mauri Kunnas; Olavi Linden, Director, R&D, and Chief Designer at Fiskars; Ezio Manzini, Professor of Industrial Design from Italy, and Professor Emeritus Yrjö Sotamaa from theAalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture. An honorary doctorate is the highest honour a university can award.
The Formal Conferment Ceremony at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture combines academic tradition with that of the school. At Aalto ARTS, the celebration will be held in the middle of winter on the anniversary of the school.
As opposed to traditions of other universities, those awarded the degrees walk in a procession through Media Centre Lume. The spaces use by the procession were designed by students of scenography and, in line with the school traditions, the conferment ceremony working group included students of the school who designed e.g. the graphic identity in addition to the look of the staging.
An example of indigenous traditions is the garland used by the recipients of master’s degrees. Those conferred a master’s degree do not receive a laurel garland but a unique garland for each conferment. This year the garland was made of Aalto cardboard.
‘The Ceremonial Conferment of Degrees is a wonderful, centuries-old rite of transition to the academic community. It is symbolised by freedom, science and, at ARTS, art and creativity – what could be a better reason to celebrate?’ states Project Coordinator Ada Schwanck.
