RISD Announces New President
GoLocalProv News Team
RISD Announces New President
RISD’s Board of Trustees on Thursday announced the appointment of Crystal Williams as the institution’s 18th president effective April 1, 2022.
About Williams
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTCurrently Boston University’s vice president and associate provost for community and inclusion, Williams was selected after an international search for a leader with the capability and passion to educate artists, designers and scholars for a rapidly changing future, and one with the global vision to guide RISD’s role in helping to create a more just, fair and sustainable society, said the board in a statement.
They continued:
"An accomplished leader, collaborator and community builder, Williams brings more than two decades of higher education experience to RISD, having served at Reed and Bates in addition to her current role at BU. Throughout her career Williams has been an institutional catalyst, helping to envision, define and achieve greater outcomes for students, faculty and staff. As a faculty member, Williams advanced artistic inquiry and engagement and, as a leader, she has focused on ensuring institutions are more effective, mission-aligned and diverse, equitable and inclusive.
In addition to her roles in higher ed, Williams is an award-winning poet and essayist. She has published four collections of poems, and her work is part of MoMA’s Poetry Project, a tour of poems responding to pieces in the museum’s permanent collection.
The site includes a video interview with Crystal Williams, where she talks more about the experiences that led her to RISD, her leadership style, the importance of access and truly opening up opportunities for the world’s most promising creatives, her hopes for the future, and RISD’s unique opportunity to play an essential leadership role in helping to catalyze more inclusion in the arts and in creative spaces across the world."