MCC Daily Tribune

Jason S. Schupbach Appointed as the Next President of FIT

Accomplished Academic and Public Service Leader Succeeds Esteemed President Dr. Joyce Brown

Albany, NY – The State University of New York Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to name Jason S. Schupbach as the 7th president of State University of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). Mr. Schupbach currently serves as the dean of Drexel University’s Westphal College of Media Arts and Design, and his appointment will take effect on January 15, 2026. During today’s meeting, the SUNY Board of Trustees and Chancellor King thanked Dr. Joyce Brown for her distinguished career at the helm of the global leader in creative education.

“FIT is a global leader in art, design, business, and technological innovation, and I am thrilled to welcome Jason Schupbach as the next president of this world class institution,” SUNY Chancellor King said. “Under the leadership of President Dr. Joyce Brown, FIT has established itself as a center of academic excellence that offers students hands-on, practical experience that fosters innovation and collaboration. I thank Dr. Brown for her service and look forward to working with incoming President Schupbach to move FIT forward.”

The SUNY Board of Trustees said, “FIT has inspired generations of individuals to create beautiful, innovative, inspiring, and thought-provoking art across all mediums. We thank Dr. Joyce Brown for her leadership of FIT and for advancing the school to serve as a leader in the ever evolving and rapidly growing creative economy. We are pleased to welcome incoming President Jason Schupbach to FIT and are confident he will bring this world class institution to even greater heights.”

FIT Incoming President Jason Schupbach said, “I am honored to accept the role as the next President of the Fashion Institute of Technology. As an epicenter of creative innovation and a global creative force with a strong access mission, I believe strongly that FIT matters – that this is FIT’s moment. I want to thank the SUNY Board, Chancellor King, and the FIT Search Committee and Board for this opportunity. As I join the FIT Community, I look forward to collaborating with the many talented students, faculty, staff, supporters, and partners of FIT, as well as building off the legacy of Dr. Joyce F. Brown.”

FIT Chairman Robin Burns-McNeill said, “I want to thank the SUNY Board of Trustees for voting to approve Jason Schupbach as the visionary new president of FIT. Jason's vast experience across not only higher education but the arts will be an incredible asset for FIT as he continues his work in championing creativity and leading complex organizations. I commend our search committee and the FIT Board for their commitment to a rigorous 8-month search process and Dr. Joyce F. Brown for leaving a lasting legacy of innovation and excellence at FIT.”

FIT President Dr. Joyce Brown said, “I am pleased to welcome Jason Schupbach as the next President of FIT. He has a record of leadership in the field of design education and is recognized as a champion for institutional advancement in innovation and creativity. FIT is poised to expand its role as a global leader that fuels the creative industries, I look forward to seeing FIT's contributions in the coming years.”

John Fry, Temple University President and former Drexel University President, said, “I have had the wonderful opportunity to work closely with Jason Schupbach over the last five years as he led the Westphal College at Drexel with distinction, and took it to the next level in terms of creativity, impact and civic engagement. Jason’s leadership is personal, hands-on, and highly effective, and FIT is going to benefit greatly from his presence.”

Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, former Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts and University Professor for Creativity and Social Impact at Arizona State University, said, “I am thrilled for SUNY, FIT, and for Jason. Jason Schupbach is a visionary leader with a deep appreciation for fashion, design, and art and the roles they play globally. FIT, such a renowned institution, will only become stronger, increasingly relevant, and will continue to be pathbreaking as a result of Jason’s leadership.”

About Incoming FIT President Jason Schupbach
Jason Schupbach is the Dean of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design at Drexel University. He is a nationally recognized expert on support systems for creatives and the nexus of creativity and comprehensive community development. At Drexel, he has led the College to success in fundraising, rankings, scholarly output, enrollment and faculty, staff and student support. He launched a groundbreaking new apprenticeship model of education with URBN and is the co-editor of the newly-published Routledge Handbook of Urban Cultural Planning. Formerly the Director of the Design School at Arizona State University, he started the ambitious ReDesign.School project to reinvent design education for the 21st century and was a key advisor to ASU on diverse projects such as the Center for Creativity and Place, James Turrell’s Roden Crater, and ASU's Los Angeles downtown home.

Previous to this position he was Director of Design and Creative Placemaking Programs for the National Endowment for the Arts, where he oversaw all design and creative placemaking grantmaking and partnerships, including Our Town and Design Art Works grants, the Mayor’s Institute on City Design, the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design, and the NEA's Federal agency collaborations. In addition, he oversaw ‘Creativity Connects,’ the first report in a decade on the major trends affecting US artists and designers and a new grant program to support partnership projects between creatives and other fields of practice.

Previously, Mr. Schupbach served Governor Patrick of Massachusetts as the Creative Economy Director, tasked with supporting creative and tech businesses in the state. He formerly was the Director of ArtistLink, a Ford Foundation funded initiative to support creatives and to stabilize and revitalize communities through the creation of affordable space and innovative environments for creatives. He has also worked for the Mayor of Chicago and New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs. He has written extensively on supporting creatives and the role of arts and design in making better communities, and his writing has been featured as a Best Idea of the Day by the Aspen Institute.

Mr. Schupbach earned a Masters in City Planning/Urban Design Certificate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2003, and his B.S. in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1997.

About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state's only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.16 billion in fiscal year 2024, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit SUNY's website.

Veronica Chiesi Brown
Community Relations
10/29/2025