The George Washington University announced Monday that Kym Rice will serve as interim director of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design during the search for a successor to director Sanjit Sethi.
Mr. Sethi is leaving GW to become president of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Dr. Rice, a historian and curator who received a doctoral degree in American studies from GW in 2015, is currently the Corcoran’s assistant director for academic affairs and an associate professor of museum studies. She previously served as director of the Museum Studies Program at GW, where she has worked since 1996. She is a member of the dean’s council of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences and in 2019 received the college’s annual award for graduate mentoring.
She also previously held the Corcoran’s interim director position for about six months before Mr. Sethi’s appointment in 2015.
Dr. Rice said she sees her job as “continuing to build the culture of collaboration and creativity across all the cross-disciplinary areas the Corcoran touches.”
“I’m here to keep up the momentum and continue to advance the mission and goals of the Corcoran during the search for a director,” she said of accepting the interim position. “I feel a great commitment to this institution, and I’m excited to help usher in the Corcoran’s next iteration.”
A longtime exhibition developer and curator, Dr. Rice works with museums and historical organizations around the country. Her award-winning exhibitions include “A Share of Honour: Virginia Women 1600-1945” for the Virginia Women’s Cultural History Project and “Early American Taverns: For the Entertainment of Friends and Strangers” at the Fraunces Tavern Museum. The subjects she teaches include exhibition script writing and curatorial research and planning.