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Arts
Author and Esteemed Cellist Ronald Crutcher to Discuss Race and Leadership
Crutcher, University of Richmond President Emeritus, will discuss his book, “I Had No Idea You Were Black: Navigating Race on the Road to Leadership,” on April 20
Ronald Crutcher, author, esteemed cellist and president emeritus at the University of Richmond, will deliver an in-person book talk called “You Didn't Hear a Word I Said: The Critical Role of Conversations Across Difference in a Democratic Society,” on Wednesday, April 20, at 7 p.m. in the Isenberg Hub.
The event, hosted by the UMass Amherst College of Humanities and Fine Arts and Isenberg School of Management, is free and open to the public, with registration available online.
Crutcher will discuss his memoir, “I Had No Idea You Were Black: Navigating Race on the Road to Leadership,” which examines his life as a Black leader bridging America’s cultural divide.
In an increasingly polarized world, it has become almost impossible to have authentic conversations across different perspectives from race and gender to politics and ideology,
says Crutcher.
He continues, “The vigorous debate of competing ideas has been an essential component of well-functioning democratic societies for centuries. And yet, in today’s climate, the various factions not only congregate in like-minded ‘bubbles,’ but they also are reluctant to interact with or, in some cases, even vilify those in the opposing ‘bubbles.’”
Crutcher will explore the forces that have driven this divide; how to lead during times of polarization; and the role of higher education in preparing students to uphold the tenets of democracy. The talk will draw from Crutcher’s life experiences, including from his time as a child musician who met with civil rights leader Coretta Scott King; as an adult educator who sat at poet Maya Angelou’s holiday table; and as a Black university president in the South.
A book signing will follow. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event via Amherst Books.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to two parents who never graduated high school, Crutcher began studying the cello at the age of 15. He went on to win the Cincinnati Symphony Young Artist Competition at age 17. As a Woodrow Wilson and Ford Foundation Fellow, he studied at Yale University and became the first cellist to receive a doctor of musical arts degree from Yale. Crutcher is a Fulbright Scholar who made his Carnegie Hall debut in March 1985 and a member of the Klemperer Trio, which he has performed with for almost 40 years.
Outside of his music career, Crutcher is a professor at the University of Richmond, where he served as its tenth president from 2016-2021. He is also president emeritus of Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., and has served in senior leadership positions at several higher education institutions, including University of Texas at Austin, Miami University and University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
A look back on a 2020 performance by Ronald A. Crutcher with pianist Joanne Lan-Funn Kong as part of the 55th Grand Boulé, a biennial gathering of the oldest Black fraternal organization for professionals in the U.S.