$20 million gift to design school by computer graphics pioneer and philanthropist Patrick (Pat) Hanrahan

Rhode Island School of Design has announced a historic $20 million commitment, its largest outright gift ever, directed through the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation and computer graphics pioneer and philanthropist Patrick (Pat) Hanrahan.

The funds will establish a new cohort of full-tuition, need-based undergraduate scholarships beginning in the 2027–28 academic year, as well as endowed faculty positions and a rotating visiting residency designed to bring broader global and cultural perspectives into RISD’s classrooms.

The Maxwell Scholarship Fund, created through Hanrahan’s philanthropy via the foundation he co-founded with his wife and RISD alumna Delle Maxwell, will underwrite eight full-tuition scholarships for undergraduates each year, with applicants automatically considered without any additional materials required.

Leaders at RISD say the gift is closely aligned with the institution’s strategic push to expand access to its cross-disciplinary, studio-based curriculum and to support students who might otherwise be unable to afford a RISD education.

A second component, the Maxwell Global Perspectives Faculty Fund, will endow two permanent faculty positions and a rotating visiting residency to elevate diverse viewpoints and definitions of craft as both a mode of making and a framework for intellectual inquiry.

According to RISD’s academic leadership, appointments supported by the fund will be chosen with the explicit goal of amplifying varied histories, practices, and lived experiences in art and design at a moment when representation and global context are central issues across creative disciplines.

In statements accompanying the announcement, the foundation emphasized its belief that investing in talented, innovative individuals can reshape not only their own trajectories but also their fields and the institutions they touch.

For Maxwell, a member of RISD’s class of 1974, the gift reflects the profound impact the school had on her and, by extension, the couple’s philanthropy; for Hanrahan, channeling this record-setting donation through the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation places his name and resources squarely behind the next generation of artists and designers who will define how people, places, and ideas connect in the decades ahead.