Message from the Dean

Hear from Dean of Liberal Arts Patricia Barbeito about the role of the liberal arts in preparing new generations of designers and artists.

James Baldwin once wrote that the role of the artist was to “illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.” At RISD, the liberal arts are fundamental to an art and design education as (in the words of bell hooks) a “practice of freedom”, essential to the “training of the mind to think” (per Albert Einstein), and as a means of “attaining and sustaining curiosity and humility” (according to writer/scholar Andrew Delbanco).

In a nutshell, the liberal arts curriculum at RISD provides students with an exciting range of opportunities to both deepen and broaden their understanding of the world and of the role and responsibilities of their art and design practice within it, while also helping them develop confidence in the analytical and communication skills essential to their creative and professional lives.

Comprised of four departments and an interdisciplinary graduate program, the Liberal Arts division is home to a faculty passionate about their teaching and scholarship, whose innovations in the classroom often depend on their scholarly and creative experimentations. On the whole, students can expect small, highly engaged classrooms that challenge them to read, write, and analyze deeply and critically, develop their imagination and independence of thought, and think about complicated issues from a range of different perspectives, thus cultivating their ability to locate their work in informed, socially responsible ways.

I invite you to visit us either in person or online to explore our exciting curriculum and witness the commitment of our faculty and students to making the world we live in “a more human dwelling place.”

— Patricia Felisa Barbeito

Patricia Barbeito

Patricia Felisa Barbeito is RISD’s dean of Liberal Arts and a professor of American literatures. In her research she focuses on African American literature and culture of the 1940s–60s, in particular the protest literature of the period. At RISD she teaches courses on race and ethnicity in American literature, the African American literary tradition, captivity and prison narratives, magical realism, the Latin American novel, and noir fiction and film.

Barbeito’s most recent book project, One Jump Ahead of Disaster, examines the work of 20th-century African American writer Chester Himes. She holds a PhD in comparative literature from Harvard University.