Sudden Maeda departure leaves RISD scrambling

LESSON LEARNED? In the wake of  John Maeda’s sudden departure as president of RISD, professors and others praised his vision but say he faced  administrative and leadership challenges. / COURTESY RISD
LESSON LEARNED? In the wake of John Maeda’s sudden departure as president of RISD, professors and others praised his vision but say he faced administrative and leadership challenges. / COURTESY RISD

Outgoing Rhode Island School of Design President John Maeda’s decision on Dec. 4 to announce via social media and video his imminent departure after six years for a job in California’s Silicon Valley with the venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers took the college and state by surprise.
While widely praised in public statements last week by college officials and community leaders for his contributions, the abrupt end of his tenure Jan. 1 underscores a mixed track record marked by the highs of successes such as the 2012 ranking of RISD by “Business Insider” as the No. 1 design school in the world and challenges, including a 2011 faculty vote of no confidence.
RISD named Provost Rosanne Somerson to serve as interim president five days later. And when the search for a permanent successor begins in January, college officials and trustees would do well to learn from Maeda’s surprise move to the private sector, says Daniel P. Egan, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Rhode Island.
While it is unclear when college trustees first knew of Maeda’s plans, faculty members were clearly caught by surprise. Jack Stripling, a reporter who covers school presidents and college boards for the Chronicle of Higher Education, says the apparent short notice is unusual.
Historically, the lengths of college presidencies typically run eight to 10 years, and it’s more common for college presidents to give trustees substantial lead time that “allows an institution to get well into a presidential search, if not conclude one,” Stripling said.
But Maeda’s move toward an opportunity in his field – the intersection of technology, business and design that he has promoted while president – may be the kind of exit colleges and universities are going to have to get used to, says Egan.
The succession-planning time frame that higher education institutions are used to may shrink because of the new type of leader that’s emerging – leaders who aren’t pure academics, Egan explained.
“John’s an innovator and entrepreneur from a design background,” Egan said. “People in the business world operate on a different time clock than people in the academic world. Five [full] years is a good stay. He’s obviously left his imprint on the institution. [But] college and university boards of trustees are going to have to become more nimble over time, because this can happen more, and schools are less likely to have staged exits of a presidential leader.” Neither Maeda nor RISD board Chairman Michael H. Spalter could be immediately reached for comment last week. But in a statement, Spalter praised the departing leader for successes that included raising more money for financial aid for students and increased applications to RISD. Applications rose more than 9 percent in 2012 and an additional 3.5 percent in 2013, Spalter said.
“President Maeda has been a visionary, passionate and tireless leader for RISD over the past six years and for that I extend a heartfelt thank you on behalf of our community,” Spalter wrote. “He has advanced not only our institution but also the role of art and design in the 21st-century global economy. [He] leaves RISD stronger than ever before – a global community of more than 30,000 thinkers and makers who are changing the world through their vision, their work and their creative passion.”
Trustee emerita Merrill W. Sherman, who was board chairwoman when Maeda was hired, said his accomplishments also include raising the stature of the STEM to STEAM initiative in Rhode Island by supporting the injection into the science, technology, engineering and math programs of the “arts” in grades K-12, as well as recruiting both more students and personnel.
Sherman acknowledged hiring Maeda was a “risk” because of his lack of experience in academia. Maeda went from associate director of MIT’s media lab to RISD, without navigating the typical hierarchy of administrative posts. But though she could not comment on Maeda’s timing, she thinks that risk paid off.
“John did not have tremendous administrative experience,” Sherman said. “He was hired more because he had great vision, design credentials and an understanding of technology, which we thought was very important at the dawn of the 21st century. That was a risk that the board took when it hired John. He came up the learning curve quickly. It’s not like he didn’t have his bumps, but to his credit, he stuck with it, and he came through it.”
The bumps included the vote of no confidence levied in 2011 after he and then-Provost Jessie Shefrin proposed a plan to restructure the school’s academic divisions. The plan was not implemented and Shefrin has since left RISD. Faculty familiar with the vote of no confidence say Maeda handled the situation adroitly.
“He said, ‘I wasn’t prepared for the hostility,’ ” recalled Rafael Attias, a professor in digital and media, illustration and graphic design.
“It’s a hard role to be a president. … RISD as a culture here is of artists and free spirits, and in some ways people are hesitant to follow leaders or authority,” he said. “To me it raises the question: What is the role of a president of an art school? Is it somebody who tries to get involved in academics or goes for partnerships and money? He did both, and I think that’s why he was a good force, even with the conflicts.”
English professor Mark Sherman, who was chairman of the faculty steering committee during the 2010-11 academic year, said there was a “palpable gap” in communication between Maeda and the faculty that led to the no-confidence vote: a failure to consult with faculty, as had been the tradition. In contrast, he said, Somerson is someone who does consult widely and “engage” with faculty.
At Maeda’s goodbye meeting with faculty on Dec. 4, professors responded with “polite acknowledgement” to Maeda’s own recognition of his struggles, Mark Sherman said.
“John’s legacy?” asked Sherman afterward. “That’s something that will have to be sorted out. … There’s a lot of misrepresentation both about what John was doing and what the faculty’s concerns about that were. Also [inaccurate was the view] that RISD had been a Neolithic institution that was out of loop with the digital world.
“The fact of the matter is, RISD is a very diverse place. John was not out of place at RISD because there are all sorts of people there. You can’t stereotype or generalize about an arts and design student or faculty member. So those readings of the period are misleading.”
Longtime professor of illustration Robert Brinkerhoff says the outgoing RISD president had a gift for communicating with sincerity and regularity – though tweets may not have been everyone’s choice vehicle.
“John’s ability to see all the moving parts and his dedication to being able to see even on the smallest level or scale the activity of the school on a day-to-day basis was pretty amazing,” added Brinkerhoff, who communicated regularly with Maeda by email. “I was so impressed with John’s commitment to trying to understand what our department was about: Its vision; its pedagogical emphasis. It was a source of pride to us: that visibility and attention.” Sally Lapides, vice chairwoman of the RISD Museum Art Board of Governors, and alumna Maeve Donohue, who graduated in 1993 and runs her own business, Nami Studios, a creative-services company in Barrington, say Maeda’s departure feels premature.
“He bridged the world of design and technology in a way that RISD probably had not seen before, so he will be known for enlarging our visibility in the world,” Lapides said. “He has done extraordinary lectures around the world, and he’s given the school a global presence.”
Donohue added, “John brought to the school a new way of thinking or talking about things. I’d love to see a continuation of the relationship between the technology and the arts, somebody who can keep moving RISD forward. I really like the strides RISD is making toward integrating the arts with technology and science and being a real collaborative player in Rhode Island.”
The suddenness of Maeda’s departure caught Somerson, like her colleagues, by surprise.
“This is sort of typical timing for jobs in the private sector,” she said. “In academia, it’s not as common. I think John had confidence things at RISD were on really solid ground. He cares deeply about the place, and part of his personal decision was in knowing [that].”
Somerson is already thinking about the work ahead, though she would not say whether she would consider becoming a candidate for the permanent job.
“One of the things I’m most excited about is to really look at why an art and design education is such an important form of education right now,” she said.
“Ninety-seven percent of our students are employed within a year or two of graduation, which is way beyond the national average. Part of that is because our students are seen as really nimble innovators [with] very developed conceptual abilities and creative talents and an incredible work ethic,” she said. “The ability to translate complex, innovate thinking into outcomes is sought in the job market right now.” •

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