Dear members of the Tufts community,
It is with great excitement that we share with you that Scheri Fultineer will be the next Dean of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, effective January 1, 2023.
Dean Fultineer brings with her diverse experience, not only as a professor and higher education leader, but also as an accomplished landscape architect and artist. In addition, her interest in and commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and research-based practice will make her an ideal leader for this next chapter of SMFA at Tufts.
Scheri Fultineer most recently served as Dean of the Division of Architecture and Design at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where she oversaw a division comprising seven departments offering undergraduate and graduate degrees to over 1,000 students and supervised 13 department heads and program directors and 75 full-time faculty. In addition to playing a key role in leading RISD through the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked closely with senior leadership to implement the university's strategic plan. Prior to her deanship, she served as a department head for five years and held the role of Interim Associate Provost of Research at RISD.
Dean Fultineer is a Professor of Landscape Architecture at RISD, where she has taught courses in the Department of Landscape Architecture, including: Oysterculture: Creating Sculptural Shellfish Habitat; Rocky Point: Contemporary Issues in Coastal Parks; The Presence of Absence: Reimagining Memorial; and The Future of Dams: Visualizing Alternative Scenarios. Prior to her time at RISD, Scheri taught for more than a decade at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Dean Fultineer holds a Master in Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and a Bachelor of Arts from Antioch College.
A practicing landscape architect and artist, Dean Fultineer was a founding principal of Reisen Design Associates, a multidisciplinary firm that provides consulting, master planning, and design services to a variety of clients ranging from religious organizations seeking to establish contemplative campuses in remote and ecologically sensitive sites to residential landowners.
Her art involves years of research into the ways that cultural practices influence the shaping of the landscape, and a vigorous interest in the contemporary challenge of incorporating sustainability into our design and cultural practices. As an example, her project, The Dead, examines how humans are the only species on earth to ritually prepare and intentionally place their dead, constructing graves, tombs, sepulchers, catacombs, ossuaries, crematoria, and columbaria, among other structures that mark our cities and landscapes. Her studio's work also addresses the dynamic exchanges between ecological and human systems.
Please join us in welcoming Dean Fultineer to our campuses when she officially starts.
We would also like to express our gratitude to the staff, faculty, administrators, and students who participated on the search committee, and especially to Dina Deitsch, Director and Chief Curator of the Tufts University Art Galleries, who expertly chaired the committee. We are grateful for their leadership, guidance, and dedication. In addition, we remain indebted to Nate Harrison and Eulogio Guzmán for their continued leadership of the school during this interim period and until Dean Fultineer joins us in the new year.
With best wishes,
James M. Glaser
Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences
Professor of Political Science
Caroline Attardo Genco
Provost and Senior Vice President ad interim
