Ronald A. Crutcher
Ronald A. Crutcher became the seventh president of Wheaton on July 1, 2004; he was inaugurated on April 16, 2005. An active musician and scholar, President Crutcher holds a faculty appointment at the college. He also is a member of the Klemperer Trio, which performs regularly in this country and in Europe.
Since coming to Wheaton, President Crutcher has led a strategic planning process that has engaged the entire college community in envisioning the components necessary for continued leadership in the liberal arts for the 21st century. The strategic plan, Wheaton 2014: Transforming Lives to Change the World, was unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees in October 2006 and is now being implemented.
A recognized leader in the field of higher education, President Crutcher is co-chair of LEAP (Liberal Education and America's Promise), the Association of American Colleges and Universities' national campaign to demonstrate the value of liberal education. He is past chair of the AAC&U's board. He also is currently serving as a member of the Board of Directors for the American Council on Education.
Before joining the Klemperer Trio, President Crutcher was a founding member of the Chanticleer String Quartet, and toured the Soviet Union in 1988 with that group. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in March 1985 and has several recordings to his credit. His publications include journal articles on chamber music, valuing cultural diversity in the arts, and Black classical music.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Miami University, Ronald A. Crutcher pursued graduate studies at Yale University as a Woodrow Wilson and Ford Foundation Fellow. In 1979, he was the first cellist to receive the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale. The recipient of a Fulbright Award, he is fluent in German and studied music in that country.
President Crutcher came to Wheaton from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he served as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and professor of music. In his five years at Miami, Dr. Crutcher coordinated the ''First in 2009'' strategic vision process for the University; 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.
Prior to Miami, he served as director of the School of Music 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).
Stocking the marketplace of ideas
A college education should encourage students to develop the critical thinking skills necessary to grapple with complicated issues and complex ideas-and to know the difference between an emotional appeal and a reasoned, empirically based argument.
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