Alumna and prominent designer is RIT’s Academic Convocation keynote speaker

Patricia (Pattie) Moore, prestigious designer and gerontologist, will be the keynote speaker for RIT’s Academic Convocation on Friday, May 10, in the Gordon Field House and Activities Center. Moore will share her vision for the Class of 2024 and its potential and responsibility for worldwide dignity, equity, and peace, by design.

Moore graduated from RIT’s College of Art and Design in 1974 with a degree in industrial design. She was awarded RIT’s Alumna of the Year in 1982 and, in 2012, Moore was inducted into RIT’s Innovation Hall of Fame.

She is president of MooreDesign Associates, which focuses on providing for lifespan quality for all ages and abilities with inclusivity and universality. The company serves corporations, governments, and organizations working in communication, healthcare, products, and transportation. She has authored numerous articles and books, including DISGUISED: A True Story and Ageing, Ingenuity & Design.

From 1979 to 1982, Moore traveled throughout the United States and Canada disguised as women more than 80 years old. With her body altered to simulate the normal sensory changes associated with aging, she was able to respond to people, products, and environments as an elder.

Recognized as a founder of Universal Design, Moore was honored in 2023 with the esteemed World Design Medal from the World Design Organization and the National Design Award, presented in 2019, by the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. A fellow of the Industrial Designers Society of America, Moore was named one of The Most Notable American Industrial Designers in the history of the field in 2016 and one of The 40 Most Socially Conscious Designers in the world by ID Magazine. The Center for Health Design honored her with the 2020 Changemaker Award for her international contributions to wellness by design. In 2000, a consortium of news editors named Moore one of The 100 Most Important Women in America, and she was named one of 50 Americans Defining the Millennium by ABC World News Tonight.