Honorary doctorate recipients 2022–23

IDSVA is proud to announce its 2022–23 Honorary Doctorate Recipients: Indigenous American Chef and Author Nephi Craig; Mexican Author, Historian and Editor Margarita de Orellana; and Mexican Author and Editor Alberto Ruy-Sánchez. The awardees will speak at the annual IDSVA Commencement Ceremony at the National Museum of Art (MUNAL) in Mexico City on January 14, 2023.

Master of Native American Cuisine Nephi Craig (BHT, ACRPS) has practiced his special style of indigenous culinary art across North America and throughout the world. A member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe and part Navajo, Chef Craig is the founder of the Native American Culinary Association (NACA), dedicated to the research, refinement, and development of Native American Cuisine. Craig provides training, workshops, and lecture sessions on Native American Cuisine for health to schools, restaurants, universities, treatment centers, behavioral health agencies, and tribal entities from across America and abroad. During his tenure as Executive Chef at Sunrise Park resort, Craig and his White Mountain Apache culinary team have set national and international benchmarks in establishing a culture of Indigenous Foods across North America. Chef Craig was featured in the 2020 documentary, Gather. The film showcases Craig’s leadership in the Indigenous Food Sovereignty movement now spreading across the United States and around the world. Nephi Craig is currently the Nutritional Recovery Program Coordinator & Executive Chef at the Rainbow Treatment Center and Café Gozhóó, which he established at the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona.

Margarita De Orellana holds a PhD in History from the University of Paris, Sorbonne. In 1977 she founded in France the Latin American Feminist Magazine, Herejías. Her book on the filming of the Mexican Revolution by Americans during the strife has been recognized as a turning point in the field of Cultural Studies.  Titled La Mirada Circular, her study was translated into English under the title, Filming Pancho Villa. De Orellana also authored the highly esteemed reference text, La Mano Artesanal, and she served as editor of The Smithsonian Institute’s volume, Crafts of Mexico. In 1988, together with Alberto Ruy- Sánchez, de Orellana founded the cultural project Artes de México. Mainly a publishing house, Artes de México has published more than 400 books and pamphlets exploring the multiple Mexican histories and cultures that comprise modern Mexico. Artes de México also operates as a center for research, exhibitions, lectures, and workshops. Artes de México has received more than 180 national and international awards.

Mexican Writer and Editor Alberto Ruy-Sánchez has authored thirty-two books of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. His works have been translated into fifteen languages. He holds a PhD from the University of Paris, Sorbonne, where his studies were directed by Roland Barthes, Gilles Deleuze, and Jacques Rancière. Ruy-Sánchez served as Managing Editor of the magazine, Vuelta, directed by Octavio Paz. Since 1988 he has served as coeditor, with Margarita De Orellana, of the independent cultural project Artes de México. His novel Mogador, published by City Lights in San Francisco, became an overnight “cult” book and has been reprinted every year since it first appeared, in 1993. Mogador has since been awarded the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize, Mexico’s most prestigious literary prize. The Secret Gardens of Mogador, and Poetics of Wonder, are published by Two Line Press in the USA. Ruy-Sánchez serves as Visiting Professor at Stanford University; he is Chairman of the Writers Program at Banff Centre for the Arts; and he is a frequent lecturer at institutions in France, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Morocco, etc. He is the recipient of more than 20 literary Awards, including Officier des Arts et des Lettres, awarded by the French Government and, by petition of the University of Louisville, Honorary Captain of La Belle de Louisville, the oldest steamship navigating the Mississippi River. In 2018 Alberto Ruy-Sánchez received Mexico’s National Award for the Arts and Literature.

The Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA) offers a non-studio PhD in Visual Arts: Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Art Theory for artists and creative thinkers. IDSVA’s pioneering curriculum—fusing interactive online education with intensive residencies—allows working art professionals to pursue rigorous advanced scholarship without interrupting or abandoning their teaching careers, art practice, or other professional responsibilities.

Admissions: We are currently accepting applications on a rolling basis for May 2023 and September 2023 enrollment. Start your application here. 

Inquiries: To learn more, fill out the inquiry form, or book a conversation directly with the Director of Admissions, Molly Davis, here.