Samuel Hoi

Samuel "Sammy" Hoi is a Hong Kong-born American retired lawyer, academic administrator, and college president. He was the president of Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) from 2014 until 2023; and the president of Otis College of Art and Design, from 2000 through 2014.

Education Samuel Hoi was born and raised in British Hong Kong (now Hong Kong, China). His father founded Cathay Arts, a company that specialized in fine traditional Chinese furniture and art objects. Shortly thereafter, he entered Parsons School of Design and received an A.A.S. degree in illustration. In September 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the full-time faculty at MICA declared a vote of no confidence in the senior leadership, including Hoi, citing "inadequate and chaotic operation of the current administration". Hoi announced that he would retire, with an intention to step down at the end of December 2023.

Awards and honors Hoi holds an honorary doctorate from the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. In 2006, and was decorated by the French government as an Officer of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques. In addition, he is a recipient of the City of Angels Award from the LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce and the Artistic License Award from California Lawyers for the Arts.

Personal life Hoi's preference for cowboy boots developed when he was finishing up at Columbia University. Already interested in dress as a way of visibly meshing a multicultural background, he decided that cowboy boots were an ideal fit in more ways than one. They were comfortable and suitable to his long stride and natural rhythm while versatile enough to wear with anything from jeans to suits. When people noticed his boots, he was pleased; not only did the boots reinforce his desire to be more individualistic, "they were a symbolic indication of my enrichment, the boot being something of the West and also a foreshadowing of my coming to Los Angeles."