Part of a year of special programming celebrating 75 years since Haystack’s founding, the Distinguished Speaker Series highlights leading voices from the School’s faculty, alumni, and craft community.

Rosanne Somerson is a woodworker and former president of the Rhode Island School of Design, now President Emerita. Somerson taught in the Haystack wood studio in 1994, 2006, and 2008, and served on Haystack’s Board of Trustees from 2017–2021. She became a Life Trustee in 2023.