Provost Search

December 5, 2011

Dear Members of the Campus Community,

This week, RISD will commence a search for its next Provost.  As you know, the Provost provides key intellectual and creative leadership to Academic Affairs and will bring vision and energetic guidance at a particularly vibrant, dynamic, and significant time in the college’s history.

To ensure that the search process is ambitious and national and international in scope, RISD has enlisted Sage Search Partners to help identify and recruit outstanding candidates and to work with the Provost Search Committee.  Internal and external candidates will be given equal consideration.  Candace Baer, Vice President of Human Resources, will staff the search and I have agreed and am honored to serve as Chair of the Committee.  The membership of the Provost Search Committee is listed below.

At the recommendation of the Department Heads and Graduate Program Directors, President Maeda consulted with the five Deans.  The feedback from the Deans influenced which faculty members were appointed to serve on the committee.  The Executive Committees of the Student Alliances will recommend their representatives shortly.

A Provost Search site will be created this week by Human Resources to provide additional information and regular updates on the process.  It is President Maeda’s objective to appoint a Provost before Commencement 2012, so that an academic leader will be in place at the beginning of the 2012-13 academic year.

The members of the Provost Search Committee and I look forward to beginning our work together to seek and help identify an exceptional academic leader for RISD.

Sincerely,

Patricia C. Phillips

Interim Associate Provost

Chair, Provost Search Committee

Provost Search Committee Membership

Patricia Phillips, Interim Associate Provost, Committee Chair

Chris Bardt, Professor, Architecture

Deborah Coolidge, Senior Critic, Foundation Studies

Dan Cavicchi, Associate Professor, History, Philosophy + the Social Sciences

Kelly Dobson, Associate Professor, Digital + Media

Nancy Skolos, Professor, Graphic Design

Kevin Zucker, Assistant Professor, Painting

Anais Missakian, Interim Dean, Fine Arts

Brian Smith, Dean, Continuing Education

Joanne Stryker, Dean, Foundation Studies

Bill Decatur, Executive Vice President of Finance + Administration

Jean Eddy, Senior Vice President for Students + Enrollment

Stephen Metcalf, Trustee Member

Undergraduate Student Member (pending)

Graduate Student Member (pending)