Almost seven years after taking the helm of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (back when it was still called the Herberger College of the Arts) Dr. Kwang-Wu Kim is packing his bags and heading to Chicago.
According to Julie Newberg, media relations officer at ASU, Executive Dean and Professor of Architecture Michael Underhill will serve as an interim dean and director beginning June 1.
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According to Chicago neighborhood news website DNAinfo, Kim has been chosen as the new head of Columbia College Chicago.
Kwang-Wu Kim, dean and director, discusses the ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts from ASU Herberger Institute on Vimeo.
"Now, more than ever, the world needs an abundance of creative thinkers and practitioners," writes Kim in a statement on the Herberger website. "Without individuals who think differently, who can reimagine reality and reinvent the rules, we will never solve the complex challenges of today. 'Same old' thinking will not help us solve the puzzle of sustainable life on our planet, repair the world's distressed financial systems, or write new public policy which attends to the well being of each individual. And let it be said that creative thinking in a vacuum won't do either. If creative thinkers are not firmly grounded in the essential human experience, their solutions, too, will be of limited value."
Herberger staff says Chris Callahan, dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications, will serve as chair of the national search committee for a new dean.
