Dr. Ronald Crutcher
*Ronald Crutcher was born on this date in 1947. He is a Black classical musician and academic administrator.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ronald Andrew Crutcher graduated from Woodward High School. He received his B.A. from the University of Miami in Music Performance and Music History. In 1972, Crutcher received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Musical Arts, Music Performance, and Literature at Yale University. He is also a professor of music at the University of Richmond. He was a Woodrow Wilson and Ford Foundation Fellow. In 1979, he was the first cellist to receive Yale's Doctor of Musical Arts degree.
The recipient of a Fulbright Award, he is fluent in German and studied music at the University of Bonn. President Crutcher came to the University of Richmond from Wheaton College, where he served as president from 2004 until 2014. During his ten years at Wheaton, Dr. Crutcher's fund-raising campaign received more funds than any campaign in Wheaton's history, raising $137.6M despite a poorly performing economy. This figure includes $37 million for the Mars Center and $53.3 million for scholarships, plus several million dollars for athletic facilities, career services, and faculty-mentored research. The campaign also achieved a 72 percent rate of alumni participation.
Previously, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, he served as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and professor of music. In Miami, Dr. Crutcher coordinated the First 2009 strategic vision process for the University. He established the Center for American and World Cultures, led the revamping of the first-year experience to intensify its academic rigor, and played a key role in securing a $5 million gift from an alumnus to establish a new Institute for Ethical Leadership.
Crutcher served as the School of Music director at the University of Texas at Austin (1994–99). Earlier, he was vice president of academic affairs at the Cleveland Institute of Music (1990–94) and associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1987–90). Dr. Crutcher is also the founding co-chair of the Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) initiative, housed in the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). LEAP seeks to increase the impact of a liberal arts education by applying it to complex problems in the real world.
He became the University of Richmond's 10th president on July 1, 2015.
