School Notes: School of Art
May/June 2025

Congratulations to the MFA Class of 2025!

On Monday, May 19, the MFA Class of 2025 at the Yale School of Art will receive their degrees during university and School of Art commencement proceedings. Students and faculty will meet for the class photo on the steps of 1156 Chapel Street before processing to Old Campus for university commencement exercises. That afternoon, graduates and faculty will gather in the sculpture garden of the Yale University Art Gallery for the School of Art’s commencement ceremony, followed by a reception celebrating the graduating MFA Class of 2025.

Senior critic appointed professor in the practice

Earlier this semester, the School of Art announced the appointment of Sarah Oppenheimer as professor in the practice. Oppenheimer is an artist and educator who works at the intersection of art, design, and architecture using a range of techniques and technologies to explore the connection between the human body, machines, and architecture. Most recently serving as a senior critic, Oppenheimer was first appointed to the School of Art faculty in 2005; the new appointment began January 1, 2025.

This new appointment was developed in collaboration with the Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (CCAM), where Oppenheimer will also be a faculty fellow. For many years CCAM has hosted and helped to develop several iterations of “Sensitive Machine,” a workshop collaboratively taught by Oppenheimer and mechanical engineer Joseph Zinter. Associate dean Anoka Faruqee, who was pivotal in this collaborative faculty appointment with CCAM, shared, “Oppenheimer is a thriving and internationally recognized artist who performs equally as an educator and a colleague, bringing brilliance, intensity, and dedication to art, teaching, and research.”