The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), a global leader in creative education and part of the State University of New York (SUNY), today welcomed Jason S. Schupbach as the college’s seventh president. An accomplished leader in both art and design in higher education and government support of the arts, President Schupbach was unanimously appointed by the SUNY Board of Trustees following an eight-month nationwide search led by FIT trustees, alumni, students, staff, and faculty.
Schupbach succeeds Dr. Joyce F. Brown, whose leadership spanned nearly three decades. Under President Schupbach’s stewardship, FIT will build on its access mission and its legacy as a preeminent center for academic excellence.
As President Schupbach began his term today, he said, “I believe that FIT, as a laboratory for creative careers for the 21st century, finds its greatest opportunities in collaboration across disciplines, across schools, and through building meaningful partnerships with industry. I look forward to working with the FIT community to build on that incredible foundation and open even more pathways for academic rigor, entrepreneurship, innovation, and student success.”
SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. said, “FIT is a powerhouse in higher education, and we are thrilled to welcome President Schupbach as he takes the helm and leads this renowned SUNY institution. His dedication to academic excellence and drive to support our students’ success make him well positioned to take FIT to new heights.”
“I am delighted to officially welcome Jason Schupbach as the new president of FIT,” said Robin Burns-McNeill, chair, FIT Board of Trustees. “With a distinguished background in both higher education and creative and cultural entities, and as a recognized leader in managing complex organizations and advocating for the arts, President Schupbach will be an invaluable asset in advancing the mission of this world-class institution.”
Preceding his position at FIT, Schupbach was the dean of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design at Drexel University. He is a nationally recognized expert on support systems for creatives and on the nexus of creativity and comprehensive community development.
At Drexel, Schupbach 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 was the co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Urban Cultural Planning, published in 2025. Before joining Drexel, Schupbach was the director of The Design School at Arizona State University (ASU), where he led the ambitious ReDesign. School initiative to reinvent design education for the 21st century and was a key advisor to ASU on diverse projects, such as the Studio for Creativity, Place and Equitable Communities; James Turrell’s large-scale land artwork, Roden Crater; and ASU’s downtown Los Angeles campus.
Prior to ASU, he was director of Design and Creative Placemaking programs for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), where he oversaw all design- and creative-placemaking grantmaking and partnerships, including Our Town and Design Art Works grants, the Mayors’ 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 and conditions affecting U.S. artists and designers, and a new grant program to support partnership projects between creatives and other fields of practice.
Earlier, Schupbach served then-Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts from 2008 to 2010 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 art and design in uplifting communities. His writing has been featured as an Aspen Institute “Best Idea of the Day.”
Schupbach earned a Master in City Planning degree and a graduate-level urban design certificate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2003. He received a Bachelor of Science in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1997.
You can also find recent media coverage of the new president’s arrival in WWD.