Kent Devereaux

From 1985 to 1993, Devereaux served on the faculty of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a one-year appointment at the California Institute of the Arts. Additional academic appointments include serving as Senior Vice President and Dean of Curriculum at Kaplan University from 2001 to 2008.^[1]

He also served as professor and chair of the music department at Cornish College of the Arts^[2] from 2008 to 2014, where he curated the college's presenting series, Cornish Presents, and co-founded and directed the Seattle Jazz Experience youth jazz festival.^[3]

Devereaux joined the New Hampshire Institute of Art (NHIA) as president in 2015.^[4] Devereaux's initiatives at NHIA included co-founding the Manchester Cultural District Coalition, which advocated for the city to establish an official cultural district,^[5] the launching of a new Certificate in Creative Placemaking program,^[6] and the formation of an academic partnership with the University of New Hampshire at Manchester.^[7]

Outside of higher education, Devereaux served as Senior Vice President and Product Development at Encyclopædia Britannica, helping the publisher transform from a print to online business.^[8]

On July 1, 2019, Devereaux was named as President of Goucher College.^[9][10]

At Goucher College, Devereaux has overseen several initiatives and changes, including the institution’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He led the development of a strategic plan for the college, called “Cultivating Global Changemakers,” which focuses on student success, global education, and inclusivity.^[11] He also led the creation of a campus master plan for the development of the campus, with a focus on sustainability and accessibility. It is the college’s first campus master plan in almost 30 years.^[12]

Since Devereaux has become president, Goucher College has joined the Liberal Arts College Racial Equity Leadership Alliance as a founding member, and the college has launched the Hallowed Ground Project to study the history of slavery on the campus.^[13][14]

As a composer and director,^[15] Devereaux's work includes collaborations with artists from around the world and performances at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre and the Walker Arts Center. He has been a recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Rockefeller Foundation, among others.^[1]

Devereaux is married to documentary film editor Jan Sutcliffe, whom he met in Chicago shortly after finishing graduate school.^[10]