Rhode Island School of Design is hiring 10 faculty members that specialise in issues of race and decoloniality in the arts, architecture and design as part of its wider plan to tackle systemic racism in the school.
RISD's Race in Art & Design cluster-hire initiative includes four roles in the school's Liberal Arts and Experimental and Foundation Studies divisions, three in Architecture and Design and three in Fine Arts.
In order to improve the diversity of both staffing and curriculum, the school intends to hire those with scholarship, practice and pedagogies related to the African American and African diasporas, Indigenous North American and Latinx communities.
RISD aims to diversify staff and curricula
The school added that applicants can also be scholars focusing on any Indigenous or communities of colour that have been historically marginalised. "We repeatedly heard from our community that the most definitive transformation we could make would be to increase the diversity of the scholarship of our faculty and thereby our pedagogy," said RISD president Rosanne Somerson.
"This initiative will bring 10 new faculty members to RISD in fall 2021, launching a fundamental transformation toward diversifying and expanding our curricula."
"Cluster hire initiative is a cornerstone effort"
RISD, a private art and design school in Providence, said the cluster hire is made possible by one of the largest and anonymous gifts it has ever received.
The cl...