The board of trustees of the Maine College of Art in Portland has announced the appointment of Laura Freid as the 18th president of the 135-year-old educational institution. The Maine College of Art enrolls more than 400 undergraduate students and a few dozen graduate students. Women make up about 70 percent of the undergraduate student body.
Dr. Freid has been serving as the CEO and executive director of The Silk Road Project, a global cultural arts organization based at Harvard University. Dr. Freid is the former chief communications officer at Harvard University and the former executive vice president for public affairs and university relations at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
In accepting the appointment, Dr. Freid said that, “in times as rife with international, political, and economic tensions as we are experiencing today, I believe investing in the arts has never been more imperative. Art gives us meaning and identity, helping us reflect on and shape our lives; it is fundamental to our well-being. That is why I believe providing artists with the education they need to succeed is such a critical and vital mission.”
Dr. Freid is a graduate of Washington University, where she majored in philosophy. She earned an MBA from the Graduate School of Management at Boston University and an educational doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.