Kymberly Pinder, an internationally recognized scholar of race, representation, and murals, has been appointed the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Dean of the Yale School of Art. Dr. Pinder has been serving as acting president of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Earlier, she was dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico. She will begin her new role on July 1.
“The Yale School of Art provides an unmatched platform for promoting excellence while effecting positive change,” said Dr. Pinder, who earned her Ph.D. in art history from Yale in 1995. “I look forward to working with colleagues and students across the campus, the city, and the globe to extend the boundaries of arts practice and education. Objects and their making unlock and shape dialogues in some of the most transformative ways for both makers and viewers. It is an honor to return to Yale to help nurture its rich culture of rigorous inquiry. I am excited to bring my Yale education full circle.”
Pinder’s most recent book, Painting the Gospel: Black Public Art and Religion in Chicago (Univerity of Illinois Press, 2016) explores how Black imagery in the public sphere has empowered communities in that city. The book reflects her collaboration with local artists, including well-known muralists and anonymous graffiti writers while she taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1996 to 2012. Dr. Pinder also edited Race-ing Art History: Critical Readings in Race and Art History (Routledge, 2002).
Dr. Pinder is a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in art history at Yale University.
