Here’s what to know about UArts president Kerry Walk, who has resigned from the university

Kerry Walk came to the University of the Arts less than a year ago from Marymount Manhattan College, a 1,625-student private school on New York City’s Upper East Side.

On May 29, her former school announced it was merging with Northeastern University, becoming the 14th worldwide campus for the private Boston-based institution.

Two days later, her current school, with nearly 150-year-old roots, said it was closing within the week, a stunning move that blindsided students and faculty, and shocked the greater Philadelphia arts community.

“We will have a small team wind down our operations and more importantly ensure our students are on a pathway to complete their degrees at our partner institutions and also to ensure we are able to support our faculty and staff through this difficult, indeed devastating, transition,” Walk said in an interview Friday. “We find ourselves in this heartbreaking situation that is unimaginable to all of us and extremely difficult for all of us who love this very, very special university community.”

Walk did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment on her resignation.

Here’s what to know about the Pittsburgh-area native with degrees from Wellesley College and the University of California-Berkeley.

Walk, 63, spent eight years as president of Marymount. She previously served as provost and later, interim president of Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles and associate dean of the faculty for academic administration at Pitzer College, also in California. For eight years, she served as director of the Princeton writing program and spent the previous eight years in various positions at Harvard.

She said in an Inquirer interview before starting Aug. 1 of last year that she long had her eye on Philadelphia.

“What I love about Philadelphia is that it is a world-class city, but small enough where everyone at a place like University of the Arts can make a difference, can have an impact,” said Walk at the time, replacing David Yager. “That’s very, very exciting. It’s not as easy to do that in New York. It’s a much bigger place.”

She had said she hoped to build even stronger connections between the city and the university as she shaped her priorities and vision.

“The vision has to be shared, or it won’t be a vision that is ever realized.”

Like other local schools, UArts was experiencing a dip in enrollment when Walk started, enrolling 1,313 students last fall, down from about 1,530 in 2020.

The university, she had said, must look for new revenue streams and decrease dependence on tuition, around $50,950 annually.

At Marymount, she helped to secure the largest gift in the school’s history, $25 million.

On May 16, the university celebrated its 146th commencement, which also served as Walk’s inauguration as president. The three-hour ceremony was held two days after Walk said she first became aware of a financial problem.

Her remarks that day included statistics about the graduating class: 372 graduating from 30 states and 14 countries, ages 20 to 49.

As part of her speech, she said she is asked often what advice she would give a young artist.

“My answer is simple: Tell your family to calm down. The Philadelphia area is an arts and culture powerhouse where there are tens of thousands of jobs in the region’s $4.1 billion economy.”

Later she said, “We must thrive with Philadelphia.”