Community Announcements

Dear students, faculty & staff, 

As many of you know, the union representing our movers, custodians and grounds services staff members conducted a strike yesterday, which has now concluded.

Students, some of you stood alongside our union members to support them. I want you to know that I hear you and respect that you used your voice to empathetically advocate for fellow community members. I hope that in the days and months to come you continue to support our fellow community members emphatically in your day-to-day interactions with them. Each act of dignity and respect matters and bolsters our collective commitment to fostering a supportive RISD community. 

To the staff and faculty who helped maintain a continuity of services and support for our community members—especially for our students—during this union action, thank you. RISD is an amazing place and your commitment and work to ensure continuation of services was buoying and so appreciated. 

Because this situation is complex, I want to make sure that you have a full understanding of where things stand. On February 16, RISD presented the union with a proposal that would provide members with what the union has identified as a “living wage” as well as the strong benefits package they currently receive. If you would like more information about our offer to the union, please visit the Human Resources website.

It should also be noted that this proposal included compensation increases retroactive to July 1, 2022 if our proposal was accepted by March 1, 2023. The union did not respond to our proposal by this deadline, and instead, sent a counter proposal on March 18 that, like their previous proposals, included excessive demands for wages and benefits.

While we are committed to reaching an agreement with these valued employees that fairly compensates them for the services they perform, as a nonprofit we must steward our resources responsibly and in accord with our compensation and benefits philosophy for all staff members.

As I have said, I am eager to have this contract resolved for our employees in a way that both positively impacts their lives and aligns with our financial responsibilities. The movers, custodians and grounds services staff members are an important part of this wonderful place and help us provide an exceptional educational experience. I hope the union’s leaders will be willing to have more reasonable discussions with us soon.

Again, I have appreciated hearing your honest thoughts about RISD —the positive and the negative, especially from those of you with whom I have had meaningful and productive conversations. I look forward to learning more about what’s on your mind and how we can continue to make RISD a place where everyone feels seen, valued, and heard. In the meantime, I return to what I wrote at the very top of this letter. Each act of dignity and respect between us—whether in our residence halls, studios, offices, or public spaces—matters and bolsters our collective commitment to fostering a supportive RISD community. 

Have a wonderful weekend and, students, a relaxing spring break. Take good care.

Sincerely, 
President Crystal Williams (she/her)

As promised in Tuesday’s 2023-24 tuition increase communication, this memo addresses how we will collectively undertake a long-view strategic financial planning initiative. As I stated on Tuesday, we are committed to achieving a balanced budget and operating within our means, while raising tuition and room and board as little as possible. We are also committed to continuing to support our most financially disadvantaged students, expanding our financial aid program as possible, and investing in and ensuring the exceptional quality of our students’ RISD experience.

To achieve this vision in the year ahead, we have to raise tuition and identify manageable ways to reduce discretionary operating costs, which the Budget Office will work with departments to do. This is not an unfamiliar situation for us; for many years, RISD has faced financial challenges and expenses that have outweighed revenues. This is partly due to the expense of the unique form of education we provide, characterized by small class sizes, high faculty-to-student ratios, studio and material practices, supporting organizational infrastructure and specialized and historic facilities. Another factor is an enduring set of unaddressed or unresolved administrative, academic and cultural complexities that have resulted in unsustainable practices and inefficiencies. 

I believe the time has come for us to address and solve these complexities once and for all, and this is work that we must undertake collectively. Today I am announcing two ways we will do this: first by creating an Efficiency Innovation Fund and second by convening a Financial Sustainability Task Force. We are in the early stages of developing both but, in the meantime, I want to give you a sense of what each of these approaches will entail. 

Efficiency Innovation Fund

Over the past several years, there have been multiple operating budgets decreases, which have left many units operating very leanly. And this year again we need to decrease discretionary operating costs in order to achieve a balanced budget. I recognize that this can be disheartening and interrupt necessary initiatives designed to augment our efficiencies. So, we are creating the Efficiency Innovation Fund as a source for funding initiatives that increase operational efficiency and effectiveness. I anticipate that we will be back in touch by the end of spring semester to provide more details about this fund and inform you of how your unit can apply for this funding. 

Financial Sustainability Task Force

This spring I will create the Financial Sustainability Task Force charged with broadly identifying and assessing the administrative, academic and cultural factors that point to opportunities for heightened efficiencies and developing and recommending interventions based on what is possible, practical, sustainable and necessary. Such work is challenging because of the complexities, interconnections and interdependencies of the RISD ecosystem and because it will require that we grapple with and challenge some longstanding practices and structures. The work is also exciting because it will elicit our best, boldest and most innovative creative thinking and will facilitate and enable RISD's ongoing fiscal health. I believe it is work rooted in optimism, given our strength in art and design education, global reputation, student experiences and alumni satisfaction rates.  I will be forming the task force in the coming months and be back in touch to announce its members. 

The work of the task force and the implementation and integration of initiatives that emerge from the results of its work will be an ongoing effort for at least one year and likely two. In the meantime, once our new senior vice president for finance and administration is hired and acclimated, the Budget Priorities Committee will continue to undertake its more localized work and collaborate with the task force as appropriate. 

I look forward to the complex, collective work ahead because we will make way for new possibilities by grappling with these persistent questions. One of the things I have loved about being at RISD is the ambition we all have for this institution and for our students—and that we ask difficult questions of ourselves and others and iterate to ensure superb outcomes. My belief is that by tackling these hard questions now—in earnest, with courage, and with a pragmatic and strategic eye—we will further enable our ambitions. As we look to our future with hope and optimism, we have an opportunity to shed the practices and structures that do not fully amplify our excellence but at times inhibit it. We’re at an exciting time in RISD’s history, and I’m thrilled to be here with you now as we work together to achieve the good things to come.

My primary goals as president are to ensure the continued strength of RISD, the continued excellence of our academic program, and the education and advancement of the world's most promising creatives. With that in mind, I write to inform you of the tuition, fee, room and board rates for the 2023–24 academic year, which the Board of Trustees approved at their recent meeting.

We are committed to achieving a balanced budget and operating within our means, while raising tuition and room and board as little as possible. We are also committed to continuing to support our most financially disadvantaged students, expanding financial aid when possible, and to investing in and ensuring the exceptional quality of our students’ RISD experience.

This year, as costs have risen significantly on everything from energy, housing, food, materials, and staffing, the cost of the education we provide has also increased. As a result, next year we will increase tuition and room and board charges by 4% (see rates below), which is the minimal amount we believe is fiscally responsible. Student fees will not change. To ensure that our most financially disadvantaged students are not impacted, we will increase the financial aid budget by approximately 7% next year.

Relatedly, to keep our tuition increase as low as possible, we are decreasing discretionary operating costs in some areas by approximately 3% and will begin working with faculty and staff to determine how those cost savings can occur over the course of the next academic year. Faculty and staff, the budget office will be in touch with your department over the next month to help with this endeavor and I will be in touch to outline our plan to undertake strategic, long-view budget planning.

Finally, we will continue to invest in endeavors and areas that advance our strategic priorities and are focused on operational efficiency, effectiveness and revenue generation. 

The cost of higher education in our country is a significant challenge for students and families and you have my commitment to keep cost increases as low as possible while ensuring that we provide an  exceptional RISD experience. 

Students, I wish you an invigorating and rewarding spring semester.

Sincerely,
President Crystal Williams (she/her)

Rhode Island School of Design Tuition and Fee Schedule
2023–2024 Academic Year
Effective Summer 2023

With the upcoming March 1 arrival of Bethany Jankunis, our incoming vice president for strategy & planning / senior advisor to the president, I am writing with news of administrative moves related to the strategic initiatives area she will lead.

Our Continuing Education program has been a crucial externally-facing gem of RISD. Over the years, we have served thousands of children, pre-college artists and lifelong learners. CE provides essential access to quality art education to non-degree-seeking students of all ages, significantly expands our institution’s reach and reputation and, in the case of pre-college students, serves as a critical introduction to RISD to many young people who later are accepted into our undergraduate program at much higher rates than non-pre-college applicants. 

Moreover, we recently launched Expanded Education. When fully mature, Expanded Education will provide courses, training and consultancy to executives, corporations and individuals interested in learning new leadership skills utilizing uniquely RISD ways of thinking and making.

The success and growth of Continuing Education and the emerging Expanded Education programs are very important to our future for the above reasons concerning access, reputation and revenue growth. 

Given this importance, I have decided to move EE on April 1 and CE on September 1 to the new Office of Strategic Initiatives to enable several things in the immediate term:

1. Emphasize the importance of these endeavors to internal and external constituents.
2. Catalyze growth.
3. Situate these endeavors as close to the decision-making locus as possible while we grow and extend the reach of both.

CE, under the leadership of Interim Director John Murphy, and EE, under the leadership of Director Sean Kennedy, will continue to work closely with the Office of the Provost, particularly Vice Provost Sarah Cunningham and her group focused on external partnerships.

I want to thank Sarah Cunningham for her leadership of these essential endeavors and John Murphy for seamlessly stepping in to lead CE after Sarah Caggiano’s recent departure. In addition, I thank the members of our departments and shops who play a role in supporting CE endeavors. CE and ExEd’s success is very important to RISD’s success.

In addition, we are also moving Institutional Data and Research to the Office of Strategic Initiatives to ensure absolute alignment of strategy and planning with our invigorated focus on data and data-informed decision making. Executive Director of Accreditation and Institutional Effectiveness Jennifer Roberts and her team will move on March 1.

TO: RISD Faculty, Staff and Students
FROM: President Crystal Williams
DATE: February 13, 2023
CONCERNING: Withdrawing from U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings

I am writing to inform you that RISD will no longer participate in U.S. News & World Report’s annual “best colleges” rankings. 

Principally, Rhode Island School of Design does not measure the value of our students or our academic programs based on the same factors used by U.S. News & World Report. Our educational model is predicated on three primary ways of learning: visual, material and intellectual. The value of our unique form of education can be seen and felt in the daily impact our students, alums, faculty and staff have on the world. In a recent survey, more than 80 percent of our alums said they were proud of and happy with their RISD education. And 90 percent believe their RISD education has been essential to their professional success. Alums also tell us that, on average, two-thirds of their work “makes the world a better place to live”—a powerful reminder of the altruism inherent in the RISD community on campus and beyond. We believe that these outcomes speak to the impact and effectiveness of a RISD education. 

Until last year, U.S. News & World Report categorized RISD and other art and design schools as “Speciality Schools: Art.” Under this heading, our undergraduate programs (reflecting 80 percent of our matriculants) were unranked as the publication’s criteria cannot accurately assess art and design institutions or education. However and as a result of small curriculum changes to some of our programs, last year RISD was categorized as a “regional school.”

As is often the case, change triggers important reflection and opportunities to reassess and revise a course of action. So, while we ranked #3 out of 181 schools in the “Best Regional Universities North,” a category placing us in comparison to institutions with which we share very little in common, this change by U.S. News catalyzed our deeper thinking about the ranking system overall, its relevance to RISD and our work as educators and the criteria used to create it. Many of those criteria have been written about in critical terms and publicly questioned, and are unambiguously biased in favor of wealth, privilege and opportunities that are inequitably distributed.  

Our institutional commitment to embodying the principles of social equity and inclusion also means that, where possible, we eschew participation in systems that strongly rely on exclusion and inequity. 

Various other higher education institutions—most recently, Duke University School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Law School, Stanford University School of Medicine, Yale Law School, University of Pennsylvania Law, University of Michigan Medical School and the University of California at Berkeley’s law school—have also decided to withdraw from these rankings. I hope many more will follow.

Dear students, faculty and staff, 

Since I arrived at RISD last April, I have made it a priority to learn as much as I can about how each of you experiences RISD. From the listening sessions and many other conversations we’ve held across campus in the last year, I have gained an anecdotal sense. 

But to ensure RISD is a place where everyone can thrive - which I believe is my charge as president to do - we need more nuanced and sophisticated data to better understand what aspects of living, working and learning at RISD are going well and in what areas we can improve.  

As a result, I’m pleased to share that we are launching a campus-wide climate assessment. A climate assessment looks at the attitudes and behaviors of the members of a campus community as well as institutional policies and procedures, which together influence the level of respect for individual needs, abilities and potential. A campus’ climate is often shaped through personal experiences, perceptions and institutional efforts.

Our climate assessment will begin with focus groups, to be held this spring, followed by an all-campus survey distributed in the fall. Information gleaned from the focus groups, and the survey will allow us to articulate our challenges and strengths with great accuracy and identify meaningful opportunities to achieve the vision of a RISD where everyone is thriving. 

Your input will inform how we go forward together, not only in how we enhance and replicate programs and policies that support our community, but also in how we develop new programs and policies and implement strategies to grow inclusivity in areas where that is needed.

We have partnered with Rankin Climate, LLC to help lead this rigorous year-and-a-half-long effort. Rankin Climate has conducted more than 250 campus climate assessment projects over the last 22 years. We have convened a working group of RISD students, staff and faculty to work with Rankin Climate to develop and implement the assessment. I have asked Tony Johnson, associate dean for student social equity & inclusion and interim assistant vice president for social equity & inclusion, and Jennifer Roberts, executive director of accreditation & institutional effectiveness, to chair this committee. I thank them and the below listed committee members in advance for devoting time and care to leading this critical initiative. 

In addition, as this work gets underway in the spring, we will create a section on risd.edu where you can learn more and track the assessment’s progress. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please reach out to climate@risd.edu.

Too often, people make changes based on anecdotes and feelings alone. By incorporating qualitative and quantitative data into our process, I’m confident we will be able to pinpoint our successes, challenges and opportunities with great accuracy and, where necessary, create real change. I’m excited for us to embark on this journey together. 

Sincerely,

Crystal Williams
President | she/hers

Climate Survey Working Group

Tony Johnson, Co-Chair | Associate Dean for Student Social Equity & Inclusion and Interim Assistant Vice President for Social Equity & Inclusion 

Jennifer Roberts, Co-Chair | Executive Director, Accreditation & Institutional Effectiveness

Tila Adams | Director, RISD Store

Becky Ebeling | Special Assistant to the President

Brandon Ice | Director of Operations, Student Affairs

Bethany Jankunis | Vice President, Strategy & Planning and Senior Advisor to the President

Deborah Levans | Director, Counseling & Psychological Services

Alicia Luzon |  Talent Acquisition Partner, Human Resources

Jeremy Radtke | Director of Digital Initiatives, RISD Museum

Sylvia Rodriguez IL 24 | Undergraduate student representative 

Rachel Rosenkrantz | Assistant Professor, EFS and member of the Faculty Steering Committee

Kerci Marcello Stroud | Chief Marketing & Communications Officer

Dinh Truong BArch 24 | Undergraduate student representative 

TBD | Graduate student representative 

TBD | Provost

TBD | Vice President, Social Equity & Inclusion

Happy new year! I hope that you all had a relaxing and rejuvenating winter break. I’m writing to share several updates about the team in my office. 

Vice President of Strategy & Planning/Senior Advisor to the President

I am pleased to announce that we have completed the search for our vice president of strategy & planning/senior advisor to the president. Bethany Jankunis will join our community in this role on March 1. 

As I’ve mentioned in previous communications, the VPSP’s core charge is to advance our strategic priorities, drive new and cross-cutting initiatives, and advance operational effectiveness and efficiency. Additionally and as with all senior positions, embedded within the core work Bethany will oversee is also a charge to ensure that her work effectively advances our social equity and inclusion goals. A member of the Cabinet, the VPSP will work in partnership with people across our campus to help us realize our collective vision for RISD.

From my conversations with Bethany and the feedback I received from those who interviewed her, it is evident that she is uniquely and strongly qualified to take on this vital leadership role. Bethany most recently served as the chief of staff and executive director of strategic projects at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, where she was a key partner and advisor to the dean and a member of the school’s leadership team. During her decade-long tenure at Columbia, Bethany worked closely with faculty, staff and students, as well as board members, alumni and donors, on a broad scope of work that had a far-reaching impact across the school. On multiple occasions she took on leadership roles during key transitional moments, which included providing interim oversight for the offices of Diversity, Culture and Inclusion; Communications; Operations; and Development and Alumni Relations. In addition, Bethany played a central role in advancing Columbia Mailman’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Prior to joining the Columbia community, Bethany served as the assistant vice president for administrative planning and initiatives at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering (formerly the Polytechnic Institute); as the chief of staff to New York State Assemblymember and Higher Education Committee Chair Deborah Glick; and as a policy advisor on children and family issues in the office of the New York City Comptroller. 

I would like to extend my gratitude to everyone who participated in this search process, and especially the members of the search committee – Renee Byas (chair), Robert Brinkerhoff, Richard Gann, Kerci Marcello Stroud, O’Neil Outar and Liz Rainone. I am tremendously excited to welcome Bethany to RISD and to see the impact that she will have on our community in this critical role. 

Additional Changes in the President’s Office 

As many of you know firsthand, Becky Ebeling has served as my interim chief of staff while also serving as our director of trustee relations since my arrival last April. Given the exceptional job Becky has done leading my office, driving a number of key initiatives and taking on an expanded scope of work, I am pleased to announce that she now serves as special assistant to the president. In this role, which will report to Bethany Jankunis, Becky will oversee trustee relations, special events and projects for the President’s Office, and manage the President’s Office staff.  Please join me in congratulating Becky on her new role.

Further, Shana Vanderweele Ortman was recently appointed to the position of house manager. She replaces Pat Brown who served in the role for many years and who retired in 2020. Pat helpfully returned on a temporary basis to help manage the house and its myriad events during my onboarding and transition. Shana brings years of exceptional experience in event management and has served in multiple roles while at RISD–including in dining and conference and events. Bringing a breadth of internal and external knowledge to bear, Shana has already proven a strong member of our team and will in years to come continue to strengthen our work. 
Finally, Lee Ann Norman will join us on January 23 as executive communications writer. Reporting to Kerci Marcello Stroud in Marketing & Communications and working closely with me, Lee Ann will create communications from my office that help us foster and strengthen engagement, and mobilize support for RISD. A writer, editor and communications specialist, Lee Ann most recently worked as a consultant at the Taproot Foundation and before that as the director of learning & leadership programs for the League of American Orchestras. I think Lee Ann will be a wonderful addition to our community and I am looking forward to welcoming her later this month.

While it has taken some time to assess what is needed in the President’s Office, I am confident that we are now moving towards a fully staffed office that will not only enable our work but bolster it.

Below are updates on leadership searches in the following areas (in alphabetical order): Finance & Administration, Human Resources, RISD Museum, Provost’s Office, Social Equity & Inclusion, and Strategy & Planning.

Finance & Administration

Jim McGill, interim senior vice president of Finance & Administration, has been with us since mid-July and will remain at RISD through the end of February. His leadership has been instrumental and has provided expertise, stability and good humor. We will miss him.

This summer, I forecasted we would launch the search for our new SVP in mid-spring. However, given Jim’s imminent departure, we have escalated our timeline and begun the search. Unlike other searches and because of the nature of the role, this will be a manager-driven search. This means that we will run a national search, identify finalists and host finalists on campus to engage in an interview process without first establishing a search committee. Instead, I will work closely with Dan Rodas of the search firm Isaacson Miller to formulate a finalist list and then seek extensive key stakeholder input once finalists visit campus. This type of search allows us to work quickly, keep in line with the market (which is particularly fast-moving) and benefit from key stakeholders’ valuable insights.

Human Resources

We are placing a pause on hiring our next VP for Human Resources until several of our other leadership searches are complete or moving toward completion. We are grateful to have Director of Employment Liz Rainone step in as interim VP for Human Resources, as was announced in an October 18 email to the community. We will likely undertake that search sometime next year.

RISD Museum

RISD Trustee Bob DiMuccio, Interim Provost Anais Missakian and I co-chair the national search for RISD’s next museum director. Ben Tobin and Sarah James of Issacson Miller are leading the search. Together, they bring many years of experience and have deep connections in this field. We feel fortunate to have them helping with the search. Joining the committee co-chairs are committee members:

Dennis Congdon, Painting
Jameka Hartley, History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Kate Irvin, RISD Museum
Robert Mitchell, Museum Board of Governors
Kajette Solomon, RISD Museum
Todd Waterbury, Board of Trustees
Toots Zynsky, Museum Board of Governors

As with all leadership searches, Issacson Miller will undertake a process of discovery through key stakeholder interviews. The information gleaned in the discovery process will inform the position description. Ben and Sarah are beginning their discovery work now and will continue it through the beginning of the year. We anticipate the search publicly launching in mid- to late-January.

Provost’s Office

The provost search is underway. I am grateful to Namita Dharia, associate professor of History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences, and Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa, interim assistant provost for Social Equity & Inclusion and associate professor of Photography, for their joint leadership as co-chairs of the search.

The committee members are:

John Caserta, Architecture + Design
Kathy Chery, Finance & Administration
Peter Dean, Architecture
Sarah Ganz Blythe, RISD Museum
Brooks Hagan, Fine Arts
Winnie Lambrecht, History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences & Theory and History of Art and Design
Margot Nishimura, Library
Chris Roberts, Theory and History of Art and Design & Experimental and Foundation Studies
Eric Telfort, Illustration
Crystal Williams, President

A student advisory committee roughly reflective of the composition of the undergraduate and graduate student body has also been formed. At the end of this week, the committee will begin in earnest its evaluative work. The position description can be found here.

Social Equity & Inclusion

This summer, I wrote that we would likely begin the search for RISD’s new vice president for Social Equity & Inclusion in mid- to late fall. We are on track. The search firm Koya Partners/Storbeck Search is undertaking a discovery process that includes meeting with key stakeholders and soliciting feedback from the community about our aspirations for SEI work at RISD. Information gleaned from those meetings and solicitations will inform the development of the formal position description. In advance of that description being created, we have posted a brief ad to signal to prospective candidates that the position will soon be open. This search will fully launch early next year.

I am indebted to Avishek Ganguly, associate professor of Literary Arts and Studies, and Renee Byas, general counsel, who have agreed to co-chair the search. Other committee members are:

Anna Brooks, Public Safety
Jess Brown, Industrial Design
Tony Johnson, Center for SEI
Suzanne Mathew, Landscape Architecture
Nicole Merola, Academic Affairs
Conor Moynihan, RISD Museum
Kate Sacco, International Student & Scholar Services
Joanne Stryker, Experimental and Foundation Studies
Nicole Verardo, Disability Services & Academic Support

Strategy & Planning

Last semester, we launched a search committee composed of Renee Byas (chair), Robert Brinkerhoff, Richard Gann, Kerci Marcello Stroud, O’Neil Outar, and Liz Rainone. I appreciate all community members who attended the finalist interviews on campus and provided valuable feedback. We are in the final stages of this search and plan to make an announcement soon.

I again thank all of you who have been so helpful and encouraging during this time of great transition. As you know, I am optimistic about our future and what this moment represents for RISD. The opportunities ahead are profoundly exciting. Thank you for your patience and interest in these searches. We’ll keep you posted as we go.

Dear students, faculty and staff,

I am saddened to share that Trustee Vikram Kirloskar P12 has passed away.

Vikram was a stalwart supporter of RISD. Soon after his daughter Manasi graduated in 2012, Vikram and his wife Geetanjali established the Kirloskar Visiting Scholar program with the goal of exploring, strengthening and developing dialogue that connects RISD with South Asia-based artists and practices. This program has since brought a number of exceptional artists to RISD.

In 2017, Vikram joined the Board of Trustees. Our institution has benefited greatly from the expertise he lent us through his work on the Finance Committee, Committee on Trustees and Governance, and the Campus and Facility Planning Subcommittee.

He is survived by his wife, daughter, son-in-law Neville Tata and grandchild Jeh.

I know I speak for all of us when I say that Vikram’s generous, gentle presence and wisdom will be missed. He leaves a powerful legacy as a RISD parent, supporter and trustee.

Sincerely,

Crystal Williams
President | she/hers

Dear students, faculty, and staff,

As we continue to mourn the tragic passing of Xinzhou Yu, I would like to invite you to a memorial service tomorrow,

November 9 at 2 pm in the Fleet Library (15 Westminster Street). Alongside Xinzhou’s family, we will honor and celebrate her life. Sincerely,

Crystal Williams (she/her)
President

Support resources

For students: Student Affairs staff are here to support you with anything you may need, and through Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) you can access mental health support 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling 401 454-6637.

For faculty or staff: Please contact Coastline EAP, our Employee Assistance provider, for confidential counseling and referral/resource services 24 hours a day at 800 445-1195.

If you are concerned about a RISD community member's well-being, contact RISD Public Safety at 401 454-6666, our counseling office at 401 454-6637, or submit a Concern Assessment Response Evaluation (CARE) referral.

Dear students, faculty, and staff,

As Vice President O’Hara wrote last night, our community is mourning a heartbreaking loss. In the immediate term and out of respect for the family’s wishes, we are not yet sharing the student’s name. But we are in touch with and supporting those who were especially close to the student. Like all of you, I am deeply saddened. Each RISD student is a brilliant point of light. And our world has unimaginably darkened.

Mutual support in the wake of such devastating news is imperative. Today we will hold an informal gathering at 4 pm in the auditorium at 20 Washington Place for anyone who would like to assemble as we begin to grapple with what it means to lose a member of our community. All are welcome.

Today and in the following weeks and months, please check on each other, please take comfort in your friends and loved ones, and please reach out for support at any time. The loss of such a talented young person has a long-reaching impact that should not be discounted or underestimated. Below please find a reminder of available institutional resources.

My condolences to our student’s family, friends, and peers.

Sincerely,

Crystal Williams
President

Support resources

For students: Student Affairs and Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) staff are available all day today, and CAPS has extended hours and will be open until 7 pm. After today, to schedule an appointment with a counselor, please contact CAPS at 401 454-6637 or counseling@risd.edu.

For faculty or staff needing personal support: Please contact Coastline EAP, our Employee Assistance provider, for confidential counseling and referral/resource services 24 hours a day at 800 445-1195.

If you are concerned about a RISD community member's well-being, contact RISD Public Safety at 401 454-6666, our counseling office at 401 454-6637, or submit a Concern Assessment Response Evaluation (CARE) referral.

As October draws to a close, I will complete my sixth month as RISD’s president. During these past months, I have learned, seen and heard so much about our institution and museum, students, staff, faculty and alumni. It has been my pleasure to meet so many of you.

Now that I am entering the second half of my first year in this role, I am hosting a series of listening sessions, the first of which is next week. These sessions are designed to help us all better understand the reality of RISD of today and begin envisioning a RISD of the future.

The first of the series will focus on the question, “What makes RISD RISD?” The dates and times for the listening sessions are below. I hope that if your schedule allows, you will join me. Please note that due to space constraints we have a cap on participants for each session. The first 75 registrants will receive a confirmation and calendar invite.

Staff Session (Snacks provided)

Thursday, October 27, 10-11:30 am
Register Here by Tuesday, October 25

Student Session (Lunch provided)

Wednesday, November 9, 12-1:30 pm
Register Here by Monday, November 7

Faculty Session (Lunch provided)

Friday, November 18, 12-1:30 pm
Register Here by Wednesday, November 16

All Community (Lunch provided)

Monday, December 5, 12-1 pm
Register Here by Thursday, December 1

Dear students, faculty and staff,

I write to inform you that Vice President of Human Resources Candace Baer will retire at the end of this calendar year after more than 16 years at RISD. Liz Rainone, our director of employment, will serve as interim vice president upon Candace’s retirement.

During her time at RISD, Candace has built a strong team of professionals who together have modernized the institution’s human resources function. Under her leadership, Human Resources has expanded its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts to recruit and retain employees from diverse backgrounds and fields, and enhanced and increased access to benefits such as tuition remission and vacation time while also introducing new benefits.

In addition, Candace has expanded opportunities for employees by championing a number of engagement initiatives such as RISD Learns professional development programs, staff development days, staff and service recognition programs and employee engagement surveys. And, together with Tony Johnson, Candace launched the award-winning RISDiversity Community Narrative project. Over the course of five years, 100+ faculty, staff and students participated in this initiative, using their voices to inspire others and show the impact our lives can make on one another.

Please join me in thanking Candace for all she has done to build and support our community.

In time I will outline our plans for the search for our new VP for Human Resources. In the coming months, however, Candace will work closely with Liz Rainone to plan for a smooth transition. I extend my appreciation to Liz for stepping in to lead our human resources team.

Finally, we will host a reception to celebrate Candace and wish her well in retirement later this semester. More information regarding the retirement celebration will be forthcoming.

Sincerely,

Crystal Williams

Dear RISD Community,

I write briefly to announce the members and leadership of the Provost Search Committee. I am enduringly grateful to all Faculty who submitted their names as nominees via the Faculty Steering Committee’s nomination process.

The committee will soon meet and make some immediate decisions, including 1) how we will engage students in the process, 2) by what means updates will be shared and 3) how will questions about the search process be addressed.

I am also grateful to all who have agreed to serve on this important committee. And I look forward to working with them over the course of the year as we collectively work to identify an exceptional list of candidates for Provost.

Thank you again, all, for your interest. From here on, the Co-Chairs will lead the way.

Best regards, Crystal

Provost Search Committee Roster

Co-Chairs
1. Namita Vijay Dharia; Co-chair, Associate Professor, HPSS
2. Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa, Co-Chair, Associate Professor, Photography and Asst. Provost for SEI (' 22-'23)

Committee Members
1. Sarah Ganz Blythe — Interim Museum Director
2. John Caserta — Associate Professor, Graphic Design, and Dean of Arch + Design
3. Kathy Cherry — Finance and Administration
4. Peter Dean — Senior Critic, Furniture Design
5. Brooks Hagan — Professor, Textiles, and Dean of Fine Arts
6. Winnie Lambrecht — Senior Lecturer, THAD
7. Margot Nishimura — Dean Libraries
8. Christopher Roberts — Assistant Professor, EFS, and THAD
9. Eric Telfort — Associate Professor, Illustration, Department Head
10. Crystal Williams — President

I am pleased to announce an update on RISD’s continued pursuit of creating a more inclusive and welcoming community free from discrimination and harassment.

On September 1, the Office of Institutional Discrimination and Bias will receive a new name and adjustments to responsibilities. Newly named Equity & Compliance, the staff will continue to provide the same support to the RISD community as it has previously while also being charged with addressing compliance with federal and state regulations relating to certain aspects of Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It will continue oversight of College-wide compliance regarding RISD’s Non-Discrimination Policy, ADA/504, Title IX, and VAWA/Campus SaVE Act.

Simone Tubman will continue to lead the department, now as executive director of Equity & Compliance. Sydney Lake remains Title IX coordinator and institutional discrimination officer; they are joined by Alyssa Roush, the newly hired assistant director, and SEI student advocates whose roles focus on campus engagement.

Equity & Compliance will remain in its current location on the third floor of 20 Washington Place. This new alignment of campus support, services, and dedicated staff will continue our advancement and collective work toward fulfilling RISD’s social equity and inclusion mission.

As we have begun preparing for the next academic year, recent conversations and requests have underscored multiple challenges and opportunities related to administrative and academic spaces at RISD.

We are a complex organization with varied space needs and uses. These complexities, which significantly impact space usage at RISD, include:

Evolving needs for student services and academics;
Departmental changes through growth, contraction, or reorganization; The advent of hybrid work models; and
The need for collaborative spaces, among others.

As an institution, we must ensure our space is employed as effectively and efficiently as possible. Doing so helps to guarantee success in our mission to educate the next generation of artists, designers, and scholars.

Currently, RISD does not have an official space policy to govern and guide space allocation. A policy is the first step in finding a way forward that systematically and strategically addresses space requirements, desires, and requests. Given this, I have charged Vice President for Campus Services Jack Silva to work with his team and the RISD Capital Planning Committee —and through a consultative process—to first assess how we currently utilize our space and then to develop recommendations for a space policy. As stated above, the policy will help us govern and guide space allocation going forward.

To start, Jack and his team will focus on the administrative spaces policy and process, saving academic spaces for the second phase of this work. We expect the administrative phase to be completed in the fall semester.

Ultimately, this project will inform some of how we work and possibly where we work. In the meantime, we will continue to operate as has been directed by department heads and managers.

I look forward to the results of this work. It will help us organize and orient ourselves to the work ahead.

Dear Students, Staff, and Faculty,

As you know, we have recently experienced several significant administrative transitions. I write with a holistic update about leadership changes and administrative developments as well as some plans in progress.

Broadly, I am confident and optimistic that while next year will involve a good deal of transition and change, we will emerge poised to move forward ambitiously to advance our collective goals.

Because of the number of transitions, I have been thinking carefully and consulting broadly regarding the strategy for and sequence of searches. While there is no perfect way forward, I aim to ensure that we maintain operational excellence, work with sensitivity to optimum market timing, and stagger searches to enable as much participation and engagement as possible.

Below are updates on the following areas (in alphabetical order): RISD Museum, Provost’s Office, Social Equity and Inclusion, Strategy and Planning, and Student Affairs.

RISD Museum

As many of you know, the 2022 search for a director of the RISD Museum was suspended until RISD’s 18th president was hired. Since that time, Sarah Ganz Blythe has done an admirable job serving as the Museum’s interim director and we are infinitely grateful for her leadership.

In keeping with RISD’s commitment to holding national searches, we will reignite the Museum director search this fall with a new search committee, the membership of which we will begin to develop in late August. This committee will be smaller than the 2022 committee and will reflect some combination of faculty, museum staff, and Board members. We are currently in the process of identifying a new search firm to run this search. Trustee and Board of Governors Chair Scott Burns and I are working together to plan the search with the intention to launch it as early in the fall semester as possible.

Provost’s Office

In May, I wrote to the community about searching for RISD’s new provost. At that time, I hoped and asserted that we would comprise the search committee by the end of the spring semester. Alas, I was overly ambitious, and the summer was too quickly upon us. Nevertheless, I am grateful to the Faculty Steering Committee, which valiantly tried to finalize its election processes in accord with my ambition.

The FSC has created a preliminary list of search committee nominees and in the first weeks of the fall, they will return to this project to 1) hold an election based on that preliminary list and 2) ultimately, provide me with a list of elected nominees from which I will select several committee members. Other committee members—including staff, additional faculty, and students—will be added to ensure that the committee is crucially representative.

To the FSC, I have committed: to divisional representation, FT and PT faculty representation, and that I will select no fewer than four of the elected FSC nominees to the committee. And while there will be more than four faculty members on the committee, this collaboration will allow me to account for the range of perspectives, experiences, and expertise I believe will be needed to help us select our next chief academic officer. While I am committed to holding a confidential search process (an industry norm that ensures we get the highest caliber candidates), I have also committed to ensuring that finalists we bring to campus engage with the broad faculty meaningfully. I cannot report who I will appoint as the committee Chair because the committee is yet not constituted. However, it is important to note that, true to Cabinet-level searches, the committee will serve in an advisory capacity, and I will make the final decision.

In the immediate term, and to make sure we’re continuing to move this process along, our search firm Issacson Miller, led by Sheryl Ash, is hosting a series of listening sessions with staff this summer. Based on these and the results from the survey we launched late in the spring, they will develop a very preliminary position description, which will be further refined once additional listening sessions with faculty and students occur at the outset of the fall semester.

Social Equity and Inclusion

After consulting with colleagues about the Social Equity and Inclusion portfolio, priorities for this year, and long-term goals, I have appointed two interim co-leads of RISD’s SEI work for the upcoming academic year. Tony Johnson now serves as Associate Dean for Student SEI and Interim Assistant Vice President for Social Equity and Inclusion, reporting to me. He will focus on advancing SEI-related goals and objectives related to students and staff. Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa now serves as Interim Assistant Provost for Social Equity and Inclusion, reporting to me and with a dotted line to Interim Provost Anais Missakian. He will focus on advancing SEI-related goals and objectives related to faculty and academic affairs and work closely with leadership in Academic Affairs and the SEI committee. AD and Interim AVP Johnson and Interim AP Wolukau-Wanambwa will work closely to ensure contiguousness and coherence and that their strategies, while different based on constituent base, are aligned.

Both will join my Cabinet this year to ensure that SEI remains at the leadership table. And both will work with the deans and critical stakeholders as appropriate to help advance, thought-partner, support, and resource this essential work across our campus. Further, Interim Provost Missakian, Interim Dean of Faculty Nicole Merola, AD and Interim AVP Johnson, and Interim AP Wolukau-Wanambwa will work closely and in an ongoing and strategic way to ensure that we continue to advance RISD’s commitment to SEI goals, frameworks, and outcomes.

To prepare to launch a search for our next Vice President and Associate Provost for SEI, I am in the beginning stages of researching which firms have been most successful at other institutions. I anticipate that this search may begin in mid-to- late fall or the early spring. Ideally, our new colleague will join us by next summer.

Strategy and Planning

I created a new position that combines expertise in strategy, planning, and organizational effectiveness and efficiency and the more strategic functions of the Chief of Staff role. That position is VP for Strategy and Planning and Senior Advisor to the President (for now; it may change slightly). This new colleague will, among other things:

1. Advance RISD’s operational excellence by helping to identify and improve operations.
2. Work collaboratively with community stakeholders to deepen and broaden our existing RISD: Next 2020-2027 plan,
   including overseeing the development of initiative implementation plans.
3. Develop new data metrics, including key performance indicators.
4. Will serve as my senior advisor and manager of the President’s Office.

Last semester, we launched a search committee composed of (in alpha): Renee Byas (Chair), Robert Brinkerhoff, Richard Gann, Kerci Marcello Stroud, Liz Rainone (HR rep), and O’Neil Outar. We initially ran the search ourselves in hopes of moving nimbly and staffing up quickly, but we are now looking to relaunch the search with a search firm (TBD). I anticipate the search relaunching soon with a slightly revised committee roster and with the intention to have our new colleague begin as soon as possible.

Student Affairs

VP Jamie O’Hara has been assiduously addressing vacancies and bolstering the Student Affairs division. Joining us as Interim Associate VP for Student Affairs is Dr. David Milstone, who takes over for Ron Martel who left RISD last month. Interim AVP Milstone comes to us from UMass Dartmouth and has led work in this area for over 40 years. Also joining us to ensure we begin AY’22-’23 strongly are new hires in the division, including:

Becky Cole - Assistant Director, Center for Student Involvement
Chelsea Crossett - Associate Director, Center for Student Involvement
Ty Haley - Assistant Director of Center for Student Involvement, Orientation
Brandon Ice - Director of Operations
Josh Jones - Director, Residential Life
Sarah Knarr - Director, Center for Student Involvement
Jasmine Mahoney - Associate Director, Residential Life

The arrival of these colleagues means that we’re nearly fully staffed in Student Affairs, which is vital to the overall student experience and excellence of RISD. I want to thank Jaime for his ongoing efforts and Alicia Luzón in Human Resources for her support of these hires.

A Brief Timeline for Searches

Immediate-to-Early Fall: Provost

Museum Director
VP for Strategy and Planning and Senior Advisor to the President

Mid-to-Late Fall:
Vice President and Associate Provost for Social Equity and Inclusion

Late Fall to Early Spring:
SVP Finance and Administration

Conclusion

I want to thank all of you who have sent thoughtful, encouraging notes about the magnitude of transitions we face. As I said at the start of this update, I am energized and optimistic about our institution, our future, and what this moment represents for RISD. Our opportunities are profoundly exciting. Thank you all for your patience and goodwill, and willingness to partner. I appreciate it all and will continue to update you along the way.

Best regards,

Crystal Williams
President | she/hers

Dear Students, Staff, and Faculty,

It was good to see so many of you at Dave’s services over the weekend. The strong RISD turnout is further reflection of Dave’s incredible impact on our community. I know I speak for so many of us when I say that we will miss Dave dearly.

I write today to share the continuity plan for our Finance and Administration area.

Today Jim McGill, who served in an interim capacity several years ago after an esteemed career leading finance and administration units in higher education, returns to RISD as Interim Senior Vice President, Finance and Administration. He will oversee the Budget Office, Campus Services, the Controller’s Office, Human Resources, and Information Technology Services.

Many of you will remember Jim fondly. His admiration for RISD and its people lured him back to us, and I am indebted to him for his leadership and willingness to join us at this especially crucial time. Jim will work closely with Budget & Financial Planning Director Kathy Chery, who will serve in an elevated role on an interim basis, making the best use of her administrative experience overseeing finance and administration functions before joining RISD.

We will run a national search for a permanent finance and administration lead sometime in 2023.

Two areas that were previously in Finance and Administration will now have a new reporting structure. Risk and Emergency Management, led by Director Jen Howley, will now report into Campus Services, overseen by Vice President Jack Silva. This move reflects the long-time and close working relationship between these areas.

In addition, General Counsel Renee Byas will now report directly to me, which reflects the industry norm.

I extend my gratitude to the Finance and Administration team for coming together during this difficult time to help us move forward.

Sincerely,

Crystal Williams
President

Dear RISD community,

I write as we continue to reel from the tragic passing of Dave Proulx.

In the short time I worked with Dave it was immediately clear how deeply he cared about RISD and its people, and how much our community loved and appreciated him. This has been echoed in beautiful remembrances about Dave we have received over the past few days. He listened. He asked how someone was doing. He offered to help. He was the leader, colleague, and friend so many knew they could depend on.

The mark Dave leaves on RISD is indelible. As our interim president and senior vice president of finance & administration, Dave made transformative changes for the better in partnership with people across our campus. He did big things - like leading the community safely through the enormous challenges of COVID-19, improving RISD’s financial and administrative processes, and promoting transparency in our financial management and budget. And from the stories many of you have shared, I know he also undertook many less visible actions that were profoundly meaningful to those he touched.

If you would like to pay your condolences to Dave’s family, visiting hours will be held this Friday from 4 to 7 pm at the Fagan-Quinn Funeral Home, located at 825 Boston Neck Road, North Kingstown, RI. A celebration of Dave’s life will take place this Saturday at 12 pm at Peace Dale Congregational Church, 261 Columbia Street, South Kingstown, RI. More information is available here.

We are collecting notes for Dave’s family. If you would like to share a memory or offer condolences, you may drop them off at my office (20 Washington Place, 4th floor) or email them to president@risd.edu.

As we fondly remember and honor Dave and process this loss, please be good and kind to yourselves and be good, kind, and supportive to others.

Sincerely,

Crystal Williams
President | she/hers

Dear RISD community,

It is with profound sadness that I share the news that Senior Vice President of Finance & Administration Dave Proulx passed away unexpectedly last night due to what we believe to be natural causes. This is a tragic loss for Dave’s family and friends. And it is a devastating loss to our RISD community where he was much beloved. He will be dearly missed.

In the coming days, we will write more fully about his profound impact on RISD and with details about how we can pay our respects to Dave’s family and celebrate his impact at RISD.

In this moment of intense sadness, please remember that there are many resources available to you listed below.

Crystal Williams
President | she/hers

Dear students, faculty, and staff,

Today the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion. This is monumental news. For many in our community, it is devastating news. For others in our community, it is a cause for celebration. For yet uninterested others, the news seems inconsequential or quotidian. That our community is comprised of such differences of opinion is unsurprising. We are a diverse, global community. It stands to reason that our ideas and beliefs are not and will not always be in accord. Nor should they be.

But disagreeing does not mean we cannot and should not coexist. The opposite is true, particularly for artists, designers, and knowledge-makers. Because we disagree—and only when we discuss, engage, and test those differences—our work, our art, and our designs are made stronger, more dynamic, more complex, and impactful.

As a society, we don’t often discuss our differences of opinion as openly, regularly, healthily, or with as much curiosity as we might. But how we harbor our differences of opinion can be the difference between fostering a community in which respect, dignity, and heterogeneous thinking are the norm and a community that silences, shuns, ignores, or demeans.

It strikes me that it is at precisely times like this when we should reaffirm our commitment to not only being in productive community with each other despite our differences—profound as they sometimes are—but also a commitment to actively seeking to understand another’s point of view. In seeking to understand, I believe, we deepen our knowledge, fortitude, and pathways for change-making. What I’m talking about is not abstract but concrete.

So, in light of that belief and to help our RISD community develop more means of actively and immediately engaging across differences, I seek your ideas for specific community-driven program structures and initiatives that my office might support. If you have suggestions to enable engagement across profound social, ethical, moral, and intellectual differences—whether it is this debate or others—that are programmatic in nature and fueled by your interests and current events, please follow this link and share your thoughts. I am asking for ideas about structures, programs, and initiatives, not topics.

When we return from the summer, members of my team will have synthesized your suggestions and begun to develop structured ways to enable us here at RISD to speak across our differences productively and with the goal of mutual understanding.

In the immediate term, however, and concerning today’s momentous decision by the Supreme Court, please know that if you need support, the below resources are available to you.

I look forward to our future conversations, RISD. Take good care. Sincerely,

Crystal Williams | she/hers
President

Student Support

Counseling and Psychological Services 401-454-6637
counserv@risd.edu healthandwellness.risd.edu

Employee Support

Coastline EAP, Employee Assistance Confidential counseling and referral/resources 24-hours a day at 800-445-1195

Dear RISD Faculty, Staff and Students,

I write to you today with an update on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 and 2023 budgets. As you know, RISD experienced significant financial challenges due to the pandemic in FY20 and FY21, requiring everyone to assist in minimizing the impact to RISD. Your efforts allowed RISD to continue operating throughout the pandemic and limit the financial impact to RISD resulting in a combined $12 million budget deficit for those two years. FY22 has been stronger, leaving us with a positive year-end projection of $8 million. This helps to counter, in part, the concerning impact of the previous year's $12 million deficit but still does not cover the combined deficit of the prior two years. RISD will need to continue to manage its resources carefully in the years ahead.

The reasons for the FY22 result surplus are many, including 1) student enrollment surpassed budget expectations, landing at 2,576 for the fall semester, 2) the staff vacancy rate was close to 13% for the year resulting in savings in salary lines, 3) non-personnel spending was lower than anticipated and 4) a bond refinancing in the fall resulted in over $1 million of savings. We were able to achieve this result while:

• keeping the cost of attendance increase at 2.5%,
• increasing financial aid to a record level,
• restoring salaries and retirement contributions, providing salary increases, and seeing no increase to medical insurance premiums for our faculty and staff, and
• restoring investments in facilities deferred facilities maintenance, technology infrastructure, and strategic initiatives.

On June 3, the RISD Board of Trustees approved the operating budget for FY23. The budget assumes record enrollment of 2,626 students, a 2.3% cost of attendance increase (the lowest since 1975), a 7.2% increase in financial aid, revenue growth in most categories, restoration of most non-personnel expense categories (factoring in inflation), and an increase in facilities deferred maintenance and technology infrastructure spending. The planned budget enables us to continue to make investments in our strategic initiatives including social equity and inclusion priorities and revenue generating activities such as institutional advancement, continuing education, expanded education, research and conferences and events. It also includes $3 million to address the deficit and allow us to continue to recover from FY20 and FY21.

In addition, as a result of market conditions, I am thrilled that we are able to include in the budget a 4% salary increase for non-union staff and a 0% increase in medical premiums for faculty and staff. The 4% increase is the largest RISD has been able to provide in several years. It may not be an amount we are able to replicate in future years due to increasing pressure on revenues and expenses, but I am so happy that we can do it this year to acknowledge employees for their great work.

We expect the coming year to be another exciting but unpredictable one. We will continue to monitor the impact of inflation on RISD, COVID-19 will continue to need to be managed, and we expect that the labor market will remain competitive. However, we are in a position of relative strength compared to many higher education institutions thanks to strong enrollment, the opportunity for future revenue growth, and incredibly dedicated faculty and staff.

As we look beyond FY23, we expect to experience continued pressures concerning cost of attendance and access to RISD, now further exacerbated by inflation. We will continue to work to keep the rate of increases of cost of attendance as low as possible, while also growing financial aid, and continuing to invest in our people, facilities, technology and strategic plan. In order to do that, we must be aggressive in growing non-tuition revenue and finding ways to minimize the cost of what we do. I look forward to working with you on how we will do that work.

Congratulations on a great year. I hope you have a wonderful summer. Best regards,

Crystal Williams | she/hers
President

Dear students, faculty and staff,

Since the announcement of Provost Kleinman’s departure this summer, I have been developing a plan for the interim and long-term leadership of academic affairs. My focus has been two-fold: ensuring we have a smooth immediate transition and preparing us to find the best next leader to take us into the future.

My first priority was to identify an exceptional interim provost. After speaking with potential candidates and seeking input from Cabinet, Deans Council and the Faculty Steering Committee, I am thrilled to announce that Anais Arpy Missakian, Pevaroff-Cohn Family Endowed Chair in Textiles will become RISD’s interim provost effective July 15 for one year or until such time as a new provost is hired and begins. To ensure a smooth transition, Professor Missakian will begin shadowing Provost Kleinman on June 1. As a long time and highly respected faculty leader, Anais Missakian has garnered the broad support of her peers and is ideally positioned to immediately step into the interim provost position, leading Academic Affairs at this pivotal moment in our institution's history. Professor Missakian has held multiple institutional, divisional, and departmental leadership positions, including serving as Dean of Fine Arts (2011-2014), Department Head and Professor of Textiles (2005-2011; 2014-2020), and Graduate Program Director (2000-2005, 2020 to present). She will work closely with Provost Kleinman over the coming months to prepare to serve as our interim leader.

My second priority was to lay the groundwork to launch an international search for RISD’s next provost. To manage the search, we have retained Sheryl Ash at Isaacson Miller. Sheryl and her team have led several recent RISD searches, including for my position and Provost Kleinman’s. Through those searches Sheryl and her team have gotten to know our institution and priorities well. They also bring a depth of knowledge about both the higher education and arts and culture sectors. I have every confidence that Sheryl and her team will be able to expeditiously launch this search and help us identify a strong pool of candidates.

We will launch the search for RISD’s next provost this fall. In preparation, one of my immediate next steps is to seek community input to inform the position profile. That will happen this semester by way of a brief survey and in the beginning of fall by way of listening sessions. I am also focused this semester on forming the search committee. As in the past, the committee will be constituted with a combination of community members that I appoint. The Faculty Steering Committee will recommend faculty members for the committee to me based on a nomination process that they will run. In the early fall, through a consultative process, we will develop additional parameters for the search, including how candidates will engage with members of the community.

While we can’t predict exactly how long the search will take, my hope is that we will welcome our next provost in summer 2023. I would like to thank Professor Missakian for stepping in to lead us in the year ahead, along with the strong team of deans who will be in place for the coming academic year.

Sincerely,

Crystal Williams
President

Dear students, faculty and staff,

I write with bittersweet news that Vice President & Associate Provost for Social Equity & Inclusion and Professor of Literary Arts and Studies Matthew Shenoda will be leaving RISD on June 30 to become Professor and Chair of the Department of Literary Arts at Brown University. As a fellow poet, I personally understand what a tremendous opportunity this is for Vice President Shenoda and I can say that this news will bring great excitement to many in the field of poetry and literary arts.

At Brown, Vice President Shenoda will lead a historically significant department at an exciting and pivotal moment in our field, and he will join a cohort of new arts chairs across Brown’s campus to further deepen the arts there. After four years in our administration and many previous years of working in higher education administration, Vice President Shenoda is returning to his artistic roots at an ideal time in his career. As many know, he has continued to do significant work in his artistic practice while helping lead RISD’s SEI efforts and his newest book will be released this fall. This unique opportunity at Brown will allow Vice President Shenoda to fully turn his attention to his own research, writing and editorial work, and to focus on teaching and doing the work about which he is so deeply passionate.

I am grateful for the time Vice President Shenoda has spent propelling RISD’s commitment to social equity and inclusion, and to advancing our structures in this vein. Since joining our community in 2018 as our inaugural Vice President and Associate Provost for SEI, he has created the Center for SEI and the SEI Faculty Research Fellows program with in it; he has, with the Dean of Faculty and many community members, helped develop and support the Teaching and Learning Lab, the Decolonial Teaching in Action course for faculty, and extensive curricular and public programming; and he has also broadened engagement with students as it relates to SEI by bringing an associate dean focused on students into the Center for SEI, creating several SEI Student Advocate positions, and continuing to develop the Office of Intercultural Student Engagement. The latter has included expanding Project Thrive to a four-year program and launching the First-Generation to College Pre-Orientation Program in collaboration with both academic and student affairs. Vice President Shenoda has also helped expand the Office of Title IX + Institutional Discrimination to address all forms of bias discrimination in our community. In addition, he has worked closely with the dean of faculty and provost’s office to help guide and develop more robust systems to address diversity in hiring, curriculum development, and policy across the institution, including spearheading the cluster hire for the Schiller Family Professorships in Race in Art and Design.

I share this lengthy list of accomplishments to not only spotlight Vice President Shenoda’s accomplishments but also to celebrate and remind us how much RISD has advanced during his tenure. Please join me in congratulating Matthew on his new role at Brown and stay tuned for an invitation to come together to celebrate his impact on our community.

I am working on a leadership plan for our Center for Social Equity and Inclusion and our SEI efforts across campus and will be back in touch soon to share details. While there is considerable transition underway, my commitment, as well as the Board of Trustees’, to further bolstering and amplifying our focus on social equity and inclusion is unwavering. I am looking toward the dynamic year ahead with excitement about continuing to galvanize our collective institutional goals.

Sincerely,

Crystal Williams
President

Dear RISD Community,

With deep sadness, I write to let you know that Hillary Ginsberg, a valued member of the RISD Dining and Catering team, passed away unexpectedly last week.

Service details are not yet available. For those who would like to send a card or message to Hillary’s family, Cassie Goryl in Human Resources will collect and forward them.

As we process this loss, support resources are available. Students may schedule an appointment with a therapist in CAPS at 401-454-6637 or counserv@risd.edu. For faculty or staff, Coastline EAP, our Employee Assistance provider, offers confidential counseling and referral/resource services 24 hours a day at 800-445-1195.

Our deepest sympathies are with Hillary’s family, co-workers and friends during this difficult time.

May you all be well. Take good care.

In sympathy,

Crystal Williams
President
she/her

Dear students, faculty and staff,

I write today about an upcoming leadership transition. Provost Kent Kleinman will be leaving RISD on July 15 to become the faculty director of the Brown Arts Institute.

At Brown, Provost Kleinman will direct operations and development of all Brown Arts Institute programs that engage members of the university’s community, including the six academic departments under the institute’s umbrella: music, theatre arts and performance studies, modern culture and media, visual art, history of art and architecture, and literary arts. Provost Kleinman will also serve as a professor of the practice in the Department of History of Art and Architecture.

As you all know and I have seen in my short time here, Provost Kleinman has been an exceptional leader for our institution. RISD is a stronger place thanks to his tireless dedication to advancing our academic mission. While Provost Kleiman will be greatly missed, I am thrilled for him to take on this exciting opportunity at Brown and I look forward to collaborating with him in his new role up the hill.

Provost Kleinman’s departure coincides with other leadership changes in academic affairs. We are lucky to have several extraordinary faculty members stepping into interim dean roles, joining our other exceptional academic leaders. I thank them in advance for their partnership and expertise. While change can be daunting, I am confident, with this group of leaders at the helm, that we can ensure a smooth transition as we look boldly toward the future together.

In the weeks ahead I will work closely with the Provost to develop a transition plan, which I will share with the community once final. We will also soon announce an opportunity to celebrate his time at RISD. In the meantime, please join me in congratulating Provost Kleinman!

Sincerely,

Dear RISD students, faculty and staff,

Good afternoon! I am thrilled to write to you today as I begin my first week as RISD’s 18th president and as we embark upon the second half of the spring semester. 

Being here and among you feels wonderful. I began my first day as President on Friday in the presence of so many who joined us at the welcome event in What Cheer Garage. I want to especially thank the Facilities crew who cleared the garage of equipment so that our community could gather so joyfully. I also want to thank the Catering team and other members of Auxiliary Services for their outstanding work. The cupcakes and brownies were divine! And, I was touched by the generous and warm welcome messages so many posted to the wall display. Thank you, all. 

It was thrilling to meet so many students and faculty and staff. There was a great deal of joy and optimism in the air, buoying and reflective of RISD’s past and, importantly, our future. Some of you started to share what brought you here, what has kept you here, and what excites you about our future. I love hearing those stories and your vision. They help me understand RISD.

I have already learned that RISD is a community of distinct and necessary talents, each importantly supporting our excellence. Each individual, team and department contributes to our collective work, which is to, among other things, educate and amplify art and design and creatives, and to do so in a community that values human heterogeneity as a source of mutual power, insightfulness and creativity.   

Many have asked me what I hope to accomplish as president. The first thing I want to do is learn more. So, guided by the excellent work of the Presidential Introduction and Engagement Committee, to whom I extend my heartfelt gratitude, my immediate focus is to immerse myself in our community and learn as much as I can from each of you. I hope you will be honest and forthcoming—tell me what RISD means to you, what you find joyful about this place and what opportunities you see. 

In mid-May, I’ll communicate details concerning the first of several listening sessions. Because of the excitement of this time of year at RISD, we’ll begin the sessions in the summer, and they’ll run through the fall. They will be designed to seek input from across our community. I envision these sessions as structured conversations—sometimes open to all constituencies and sometimes more narrowly focused on just one. The information we gather from you during these sessions will help me better understand RISD and begin to identify an exciting, collectively derived, and informed vision for our future. Thank you in advance for your patience because learning does take time.

So let’s get started. If you see me out and about, please introduce yourself. If you’d like to see what I’m up to, visit risd.edu and follow RISD’s social media accounts. If you have a thought or idea, drop me a note at president@risd.edu. You can also direct questions and suggestions to Becky Ebeling (bebeling@risd.edu), who serves as my interim Chief of Staff while I determine how best to staff my office. 

As I said, I had the pleasure of meeting many of you at Friday’s gathering, and I am looking forward to a week of many more wonderful conversations. The Presidential Introduction and Engagement Committee is graciously hosting a second welcome event for me, that unfortunately must be postponed until next week due to weather. I would love to see you there next Wednesday, April 13 from 11 am to 2 pm in Market Square. (Please RSVP if you plan to attend on April 13.)